Brooks Hatch: Tuesday update Comments
Back in the saddle after a few days off, a soccer trip for the PNG Jr.’s games in Hood River and Canby, and a production shift. Some notes and stuff:
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First, heartfelt best wishes to the quick recovery of Friend O’ the Blog and former OSU standout offensive lineman (1962-64) and assistant football coach Rich Koeper. He suffered a heart attack at his Corvallis home on Monday and is at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
Get better, big guy.
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Was over at a windy and cold Goss Stadium before today’s practice, conducting some interviews for an upcoming Thursday story on new shortstop Keith Jennette. Hopefully it won’t be that cold or that breezy for this weekend’s OSU Spring Tournament with Portland and Utah, which starts Friday.
Here’s an early forecast; take it for what it’s worth, which is generally nothing. Oregon weathermen make Pac-10 football officials look good by comparison.
Anyhow, Jennette – a transfer from Sierra, Calif., College and one of 14 new faces on the club this season – said it took some time for the Beavers to gel, but they have and have transformed themselves into a fairly close team.
“In the fall it kind of felt like (the team) was separated a little bit, but that’s normal because you have new guys coming in,” he said. “Since we started spring practices, it’s been great.
“Everyone has accepted everybody, everyone gets along and hangs out and we have fun together on the road.”
And he acknowledged that new players get accepted faster when they make plays, as Jennette has.
“Coming into the dugout you get a lot more high-fives,” he confirmed.
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The Beavers are ranked 12th in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll, down one spot from last week, and are 21st in Baseball America’s rankings, up one spot from last week.
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The Beavers announced Tuesday that their Sunday baseball game with Portland at Goss Stadium in the OSU Spring Tournament has been moved to 3 p.m.
Sunday’s first game, between Utah and Portland, has been moved to 11 a.m. to help the Utes maintain their travel schedule. Should that game last longer than three hours, the OSU-Portland game will start approximately 45 minutes after the completion of the Utah-Portland game.
Friday and Saturday’s schedules are unchanged. On Friday, Utah and Portland play at 2 p.m. and OSU and Utah play at 6 p.m. On Saturday, the Beavers play Utah at 2 p.m. and Portland at 6 p.m.
Admission for the Utah-Portland games is free. Fans must have tickets for any OSU games. Those who attend the Portland-Utah games may stay in the stadium after that game’s completion, but should have their tickets ready to be checked between games.
Also, separate tickets will be needed for Saturday’s doubleheader. For fans who have tickets to both, a wristband will be issued at the gate at Goss Stadium. Only wristbands need to be presented when tickets are checked in between games.
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There’s also been one late baseball roster move that wasn’t officially announced until this past weekend.
Freshman pitcher Stuart Fewel of Wilson has replaced junior outfielder Chris Viegas, who apparently was injured just before the start of the season.
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Speaking of OSU baseball, former Beavers’ CF Jacoby Ellsbury signed a one-year deal with Boston on Monday for $447,000.
Now that’s a nice chunk of change, but he’ll really hit the jackpot next year, when he becomes eligible for arbitration, and probably sign for somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 times that amount.
Nice work if you can find it.
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Righthanded pitcher Nick Hoover of UC Irvine will return for his second season with the Corvallis Knights of the West Coast League, coach Brooke Knight announced. Hoover was 0-1, 4.00 in 18 innings over eight appearances for the Knights in 2009.
Hoover is 0-0, 3.38 in 2 2/3 innings spread over four apearances with the Anteaters this spring. He is a 6-foot-1, 204-pound redshirt sophomore from Alta Loma, Calif., who transfered from UCI from Riverside Community College.
The Knights open their fourth season in Corvallis on June 4 at Kitsap. Their home opener is June 15 against Bend.
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Former OSU athletic department administrator Kevin Anderson, now the AD at Army, gets a mention in this Arizona Daily Star story about the AD search at Arizona.
And speaking of West Point, we just finished re-reading noted author Rick Atkinson’s outstanding book about the USMA’s Class of 1966, The Long Gray Line. It’s a great read, and one we highly recommend.
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And here’s a story from the North County (Calif.) Times on former OSU softball standout Mia Longfellow, who is now coaching at San Diego State.
The current Beavers, BTW, open their home season at 1 p.m. Friday against Boise State and at 3 p.m. Friday against North Dakota at the OSU Softball complex.
They also play the Fighting Sioux – how much longer will we be able to say that nickname? – at 10 a.m. Saturday. There are actually more Oregonians (Cami Bennett and Lindy Sippola from Grants Pass and Emma Gronseth from Forest Grove) on the UND team than there are North Dakotans (0).
UND coach Sammi Strinz is also an Oregonian, from Keizer.
Hopefully they’ll each bring grinders for all to share from the Red Pepper in Grand Forks. That’s good eatin.’
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