Brooks Hatch

We’re an agate monkey tonight but we have a few items to update:

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The Oregon State baseball team received two first-place votes and was picked to finish second in the Pacific-10 Conference coaches preseason poll, released Tuesday.

The Beavers received 67 total points in the voting and trailed three-time defending champion Arizona State. The Sun Devils received the other seven first-place votes and 78 total points.

UCLA (65) is third, followed by Stanford (59), Arizona (44), Washington State (42), California (36), USC (24), Washington (18) and Oregon (17).

Coaches were not allowed to select their own team. Nine points are awarded for a first-place vote, followed by eight points for a second-place vote and so on.

Here’s the poll, with first-place votes in parenthesis and total votes at right::

1. Arizona State (7) 78
2. Oregon State (2) 67
3. UCLA 65
4. Stanford 59
5. Arizona 44
6. Washington State  42
7. California 36
8. USC 24
9. Washington 18
10. Oregon 17

The Beavers open the season at Hawaii on Feb. 19 against a club that’s picked to finish third in the WAC.

And three UH players were named WAC preseason all-stars.

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The OSU men’s golf team begins its spring season on Wednesday in Hawaii. Here’s a preview of the short spring season preview we’re runnin gonline tonight and in Wednesday’s paper:

A ranked Oregon State men’s team will begin its season this month, shooting for a trip to the NCAA tournament.

No, we’re not talking baseball.

We’re talking men’s golf.

Fueled by an outstanding fall campaign, the 13th-ranked Beavers begin the spring portion of their season today at the 20th annual Mauna Lani Invitational at the Mauna Lani Resort North Course. The 54-hole event is sponsored by Hawaii-Hilo.

Eleven of the top 20 programs, and five of the top seven individuals, will compete, starting at 10:30 a.m. today and 5:30 a.m. on Thursday and Friday.

“It’s a great tournament for us to start the spring season on,” coach Brian Watts said. “We’ve got some great competition that will really get us going.

“It’s nice for us to have a few days of practice to get used to the grass differences and the wind.”

The Beavers regularly have advanced to NCAA regionals, but haven’t made the NCAA championships since 2001, when they tied for 12th place. This year’s NCAAs are set for May 24-27 at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Senior Diego Velasquez, who is ranked No. 4 nationally by Golfweek/Sagarin, is OSU’s ace. He finished first, second, third and tied for third in OSU’s four fall tournaments, averaged 69.27 strokes per round and broke par in 10 of 11 rounds.

Seniors Mike Barry and Tyler Simpson and sophomores Morten Madsen and Jonnie Motomochi will join Velasquez in the lineup.

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Old news to some, but former ASU baseball coach Pat Murphy has signed with the San Diego Padres as a special assistant to the baseball operations department, whatever that is. Sounds like one of the jobs he made up for his ex-players.

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Former Beavers running back Hasim Hall (1999) has been hired as the new strength and conditioning coach at Lakeridge High. He was a walk-on who ultimately transferred to Portland State and lettered for the Vikings in 2000-02.

Funny aside about Hall: When the PNG Jr. was first learning how to talk, he wondered who this player “orange paydirt” was for the Beavers. It mystified me until I figured out he was referring to Hall, who, according to Beavers play-by-play broadcaster Mike Parker, found  “orange paydirt” when he scored against UCLA in the memorable 55-7 rout of the Bruins in the highlight video of the 1999 season.

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