Author Archives | Madison Guernsey

Three more Oregon baseball players selected in MLB Draft

Three Oregon baseball players were selected in the MLB Draft Saturday. Scott Heineman, Porter Clayton and Brando Tessar join Tommy Thorpe and Jake Reed, who were selected on Friday, as Oregon players drafted.

Heineman, who played in eight games this season due to injury, was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 19th round, No. 573 overall. The infielder, who was a junior this season, may come back to Oregon for his senior year or turn to the pros.

Clayton was selected by the New York Yankees in the 21st round, No. 632 overall. The senior left-handed pitcher appeared in 20 games for the Ducks this season, going 2-1 with a 4.46 ERA and one save. Clayton’s only other season at Oregon was 2011, as he served Latter-day Saints missions in 2012 and 2013.

Tessar was the final Oregon player to be drafted at No. 750 overall in the 25th round to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Tessar appeared in 14 games this season (10 starts) and went 4-2 with a 4.26 ERA. Tessar was previously selected in the 2010 MLB draft by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Reed was selected in the fifth round by the Minnesota Twins, No. 140 overall. The junior was used as Oregon’s closing pitcher this year after being used a starter his first two seasons. Reed went 4-1 with a 1.95 ERA in in 31 appearances and saved 13 games. Reed was previously selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 2011 MLB draft.

Thorpe was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the eighth round, No. 229 overall. Thorpe was the ace of Oregon’s pitching staff this season and went 11-4 with a 2.14 ERA. Thorpe made the all Pac-12 first team this season.

Along with the three current Oregon players to get drafted, three Oregon commits were also selected on the final day of the draft.

In the 28th round, the Boston Red Sox picked Regis Jesuit High School Left-handed pitcher David Peterson. Peterson was the 854th overall player selected in the draft. The 6-foot-6 pitcher gave his verbal commitment to Oregon in 2012.

Fellow commits Tim Susnara and Conor Harber were also taken late in the draft. Susnara, a catcher from St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif., was taken off the board in the 34th round by the San Francisco Giants. Harber, a Western Nevada Community College transfer, was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 40th round.

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Ducks baseball benefits from errors, timely hitting to rally late and beat Xavier 11-8 in extra innings

The Oregon baseball season isn’t done yet.

Facing a two-run deficit with one out in the ninth, the Ducks rallied to tie Xavier at 8 and won 11-8 an inning later, advancing to face Vanderbilt tonight at 5 p.m.

In the ninth, Kyle Garlick singled to score Mitchell Tolman, who reached base on an error by Xavier shortstop Andre Jernigan. Jernigan slipped up again on Garlick’s base hit, allowing Tyler Baumgartner to score the tying run. Garlick hit a three-run home run in the eighth to bring the ducks within two at 8-6.

Aaron Payne walked and stole second to begin the 10th (his third steal of the day) and scored on another Xavier error. Nick Catalano bunted and reached first safely on the play and scored on Tolman’s triple to left-center. Three batters and two pitching changes later, Austin Grebeck drove home Tolman with an infield single to make it 11-8.

Jake Reed retired the side in order in the bottom of the 10th and the Ducks kept their season alive.

Garlick and Shaun Chase each went 2-for-5. Garlick finished with five RBIs and Shaun Chase drove in two with a first inning home run, his 14th of the season. Tolman went 3-for-6 with three runs.

Up 3-0 after three innings, Oregon starter Brando Tessar kept Xavier off the scoreboard until the sixth. With two outs, Derek Hasenbeck drove in a run with a single. Tessar was replaced by Jordan Spencer, who gave up an RBI single to Brian Bruening and a three-run homer to Jernigan, putting Xavier ahead 5-3.

Xavier tacked on three more in the seventh on Daniel Rizzie’s three-run home run off Garrett Cleavinger.

Tessar went 5.2 innings and gave up three runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Spencer and Jack Karraker combined to pitch 0.1 innings and gave up three runs on four hits. Cleavinger and Reed (4-1) threw the final four innings.

Trent Astle started and pitched seven innings for Xavier, and Adam Hall (5-4) gave up six runs (two earned) on three hits and five walks in 2.1 innings.

Oregon now needs to beat Vanderbilt, who is yet to lose in Regionals, twice to advance to the Super Regional round of the College World Series.The Ducks lost 7-2 to the Commodores Saturday and will play Monday if they win tonight.

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Oregon baseball ends regular season with 5-3 loss to California

A big second inning was the difference for the California baseball team, who beat Oregon 5-3 on senior night at PK Park.

With the bases loaded and no outs in the second inning, Vince Bruno singled up the middle to score two runs, giving Cal a 2-0 lead. Oregon starting pitcher Brando Tessar was pulled thereafter, officially making Saturday’s start the shortest Tessar’s shortest of the season.

“Brando again was not extremely sharp,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “Just didn’t seem to have very good stuff. When he was in the strike zone they turned it around. … We were not good on the mound. Three out of 14 first-pitch strikes is not the way we pitch.”

Trent Paddon relieved Tessar and allowed both inherited runners to score. Jacob Wark grounded out to score Derek Campbell, and Aaron Knapp drove in Bruno to give Cal a 4-0 lead.

Tessar’s line was one inning pitched with four earned runs allowed on four hits and one walk. He didn’t strikeout any Cal batter he faced. The short start was Tessar’s third straight after throwing 22.1 consecutive scoreless innings. In his last three outings combined, Tessar has pitched eight innings, giving up 15 runs (12 earned).

Oregon’s bats were silent until the fifth inning, when Steven Packard singled with one out to break up Ryan Mason’s no-hitter. Packard scored on Nick Catalano’s RBI double to make the score 5-1. Catalano scored on an RBI base hit by Mark Karaviotis, who was driven in by Aaron Payne.

Kyle Garlick’s leadoff single in the sixth was Oregon’s last hit of the game.

“We were trying to come out here, get some runs on the board early but it hasn’t gone our way lately,” Garlick said. “Their guy was kinda dialed in pitching the first few innings and we’re just going to have to tip our cap off to him. We were squaring balls up but they were just right at people so you keep grinding with it and we put up three in that one inning, but it wasn’t enough tonight.”

Mason (7-1) allowed the three runs (two earned) on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts over six innings.
A two-base error by Cal in the ninth put Shaun Chase on second with one out. Packard and J.B. Bryant were sat down to give Cal the win and the series.
“We didn’t handle the things we typically do well,” Horton said. “Put the ball in play, throw strikes. When we did hit the ball hard they turned them into double plays.”
Prior to the start of this series, Oregon had an outside chance to host a regional. After losing two out of three to Cal, they’ll likely be hitting the road. Tessar had been Oregon’s third day starter, but after Saturday Horton said that may change.

“We’ll have to re-evaulate that,” Horton said. “Brando has had three less than stellar outings in a row. We’ve gotta figure that out. Brando is not terrible. He’s experienced, he’s got some savvy-ness. It could be Paddon, could be (Stephen Nogosek), it could be a lot of guys, so we’ll see.”

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Emerald Quick Hits: Former Oregon coach and AD Mike Bellotti named College Football Hall of Fame

– Former Oregon football coach and athletic director Mike Bellotti was named to the College Football Hall of Fame Thursday. Bellotti headed the Ducks football program from 1995-2008, winning two Pac-10 championships with a 116-55 overall record. Bellotti is one of two coaches selected to the hall of fame among the class of 16, who will be inducted on Dec. 9, 2014 in New York City.

– Men’s basketball recruit Ahmaad Rorie elected to play at Oregon, the guard announced Thursday morning. The Tacoma, Washington native chose Oregon after originally committing to California, where he de-committed from upon the retirement of head coach Mike Montgomery. Rorie is 6-feet tall, 170 pounds and was a four-star recruit, according to Scout.com and 247 Sports.

Oregon baseball beat California 5-1 Thursday night to begin the final series of the regular season. Ducks starting pitcher Tommy Thorpe threw a complete game to pick up his 10th win of the year. Tyler Baumgartner, Mark Karaviotis and Nick Catalano had an RBI apiece.

Thomas Lim was named to the PING All-West Region Team by the Golf Coached Association of America. The freshman golfer averaged a per-round score of 72 this season, landing him a spot on the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. Lim and the Ducks will compete at the NCAA Championships in Hutchinson, Kansas beginning May 26.

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Ducks baseball hosts California to close out regular season

Winners of their last five games, the Oregon baseball team concludes the regular season at home against California beginning tonight. For the Ducks (41-16, 17-10 Pac-12), the series may look fairly meaningless on paper, as they’ve all but locked up a postseason berth. However, a sweep would put them in position to host a regional.

“If we’re worthy of a sweep of Cal, come in third in the (Pac-12), it might make it difficult for (the selection committee) to not give us a top 16, or essentially a site,” Oregon coach George Horton said following Oregon’s win over Oregon State Tuesday night.

“There’s a lot on the line,” Mitchell Tolman said. “Obviously we can’t think sweep right now. We have to think (about) the Thursday game, just come out and win one day at a time. But this is a big weekend either way you look at it and we gotta do what we can do.”

California (24-26, 11-16 Pac-12) has won five of its last six games, but has lost six in a row to Oregon.

The Golden Bears are led offensively by Devon Rodriguez, who leads the team in hits (52), RBI’s (34) and is tied for the team lead in homers (7). As a team, Cal hits for a .239 average, second to last in the conference.

Probable starting pitchers for game 1 are Tommy Thorpe (9-4, 2.33 ERA) and Daulton Jeffries (2-7, 3.34 ERA). Jeffries’ record doesn’t reflect it, but he’s been a reliable arm for Cal this season, especially in conference play. In nine Pac-12 starts, Jeffries has an ERA of 3.17 and a strikeout to walk ratio of nearly three to one.

Oregon will continue to ride the conference’s most potent offense. The Ducks have scored the most runs among Pac-12 teams this season (327) and have the top home run hitter in Shaun Chase. Chase hit two  more homers Tuesday to up his season total to 12. Chase’s 12 long balls are the most an Oregon player has hit in a season since the program’s reinstatement in 2009, and tied for the third most in program history, trailing only Steve Crum (1981) and Jim Willis (1974), who both hit 14.

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Oregon baseball beats UCLA 5-4 in extras, completes sweep

The Oregon baseball team hadn’t swept a three-game road series since February. Nick Catalano changed that in the 11th inning Sunday against UCLA.

With two outs in the top of the 11th, Catalano singled up the middle to score Mitchell Tolman to give the Ducks a 5-4 lead. Garrett Cleavinger the struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to conserve the win and the sweep.

Oregon (40-16, 17-10 Pac-12) tied the game at 1 in the third inning on Tyler Baumgartner’s RBI single. The Bruins (23-29-1, 10-17) answered in the home half with three runs. Shane Zeile drove in his second run of the game with a double, and scored on Justin Hazard’s two-run single.

Steven Packard scored on a wild pitch and Catalano scored on Mark Karaviotis’ squeeze bunt to tie the score at 4 in the seventh. Karaviotis drove in a run in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.

UCLA nearly won in the bottom of the 10th. Pinch hitter Darrell Miller Jr. singled up the middle with two on and two outs, and it would have been a walk-off if not for Aaron Payne, who gunned down Brett Urabe at the plate.

Packard and Tolman each went 2-for-5 with a run scored and Catalano went 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. Karaviotis had just one official at-bat (0-for-1) but drove in two runs.

Zeile, Trent Chatterton and Luke Persico all went 2-for-5, and Zeile and Hazard both had 2 RBI’s.

Oregon starting pitcher Brando Tessar allowed four earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched, with three walks and three strikeouts. Tessar, who had previously thrown 22.1 consecutive scoreless innings, has allowed 11 runs (eight earned) in his last two starts (six innings pitched).

Trent Paddon, Jordan Spencer, Stephen Nogosek and Cleavinger (3-1) all threw at least an inning in relief and allowed no runs.

Cody Poteet threw six inning for UCLA, allowing four runs on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. David Berg (4-2) tossed four innings of long relief.

Oregon and Arizona State remain tied for third place in the Pac-12 standings after the Sun Devils swept their series with Utah. The Ducks play Oregon State on Tuesday before ending the regular season with a three game series versus California at home.

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Oregon baseball takes on UCLA in final road series of season

The Oregon baseball team travels to southern California this weekend to play defending College World Series champion UCLA for a three-game series. The Ducks (36-16, 14-10 Pac-12) lost two out of three to Arizona State in their last Pac-12 matchup last weekend, resulting in a tie for third place in the conference standings.

UCLA (23-26-1, 10-14) hasn’t replicated its success from a season ago, but as Oregon third baseman Mitchell Tolman said, you never know when a team is going to come alive.

“I know they’ve got great pithcing and I know they’ve struggled a little bit offensively, but hitting comes and goes,” Tolman said. “You never know when you could run into a team and they put up 10 runs in a game or something. I think we just gotta play to our ability.”

The Bruins have lost nine of their last 12 games, including six straight, but still stand in the way of an unachieved landmark for the Ducks: winning a conference road series.

Oregon is 3-9 in conference road games this season, and UCLA provides the team its last opportunity to take a regular season road series.

“The atmosphere is different when we’re not at home,” shortstop Mark Karaviotis said. “Maybe a little less comfortable. I felt like we played some close games that could’ve gone either way, and just haven’t gone in our favor on the road thus far.”

At Arizona State, poor pitching and defense contributed to runs for both teams, as the Sun Devils outscored the Ducks 21-16. Neither Jeff Gold nor Brando Tessar was sharp, but Oregon’s bats were steady.

“I’m happy with the level of consistency of our offense,” head coach George Horton said.

Much of that offense has been courtesy of catcher Shaun Chase, who leads the Pac-12 in home runs with 10, after hitting two in Oregon’s 14-8 victory over Pacific on Tuesday.

Chase and Oregon’s bats will be met by James Kaprielian (6-5, 2.63 ERA) on Friday. The sophomore right-hander is tied for the Pac-12 lead in strikeouts with 89, 49 of which have come in conference play (fourth in conference). Grant Watson (4-8, 3.75 ERA) will start Saturday and Cody Poteet (3-4, 3.95 ERA) will be on the mound Sunday.

Offensively, UCLA is led by Shane Zeile, whose .332 batting average is good for seventh in the conference. Zeile is the only player on UCLA hitting above .289. Power hitting is not a specialty for the Bruins either, and the team ranks tied for last in the Pac-12 in home runs with seven. On the other hand, Oregon is first with 25.

Oregon’s probable starters are Tommy Thorpe (8-4, 2.40 ERA), Gold (9-1, 3.06 ERA) and Tessar (4-1, 2.81 ERA).

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Club baseball wins first league title since 2008, falls short in regionals

The Oregon club baseball team captured its first league championship since 2008 by beating rival Western Washington on the last weekend of April. The Northern Pacific West champions then traveled to Missoula, Montana for the NoPac Regional this weekend. If they won, it would grant the Ducks a trip to the World Series in Tampa Bay, Florida.

However, their season ended at the hands of Eastern Washington on Saturday afternoon, when Eastern Washington beat the Ducks 13-4.

Oregon had previously lost to Eastern Washington the day before, when the NoPac champion was Oregon’s first challenge on Friday afternoon. The third seeded Eagles hit .399 as a team this season and were led by senior Logan Goulet, who hit .462 and finished tied for fourth in the NCBA with six homers and tied for the lead in runs batted in with 35.

Eastern Washington was too much, beating the Ducks 19-6.

The University of Montana and top seeded Utah State were the other teams in the NoPac Regional. Oregon played both teams in non-conference play this season, beating Montana and losing to Utah State.

“They’re all going to be good competition, but by playing them earlier this season we know we can hang with them,” senior first baseman Tallack Graser said last week. “I think we are deeper than any of those other teams.”

Oregon beat Montana 7-4 on Saturday morning to keep its Tampa hopes alive.

That afternoon, Oregon’s season ended when Eastern Washington beat the Ducks for the second time in as many days.

“They were by far the best hitting team we had faced this year,” sophomore outfielder Nick Waldsmith said. “They capitalized on our mistakes and put up a lot of crooked numbers that were tough to get back.”

Despite their NoPac tournament loss, the Ducks accomplished one of their season goals — winning the league.

“(Winning the league) felt really sweet,” team coordinator Mikey Finneran said. “We lost to (Western) at PK Park last year for the conference title … so to be able to beat them at our home field, to be able to dog pile right in the middle of the field felt really awesome. It was a sense of accomplishment we haven’t had in a while.”

Oregon entered the postseason boasting an 18-2 overall record with a 14-1 record in conference games. The Ducks’ lone conference loss came at the hands of Western on the final weekend.

Though the Ducks achieved their goal of winning the league title, they feel that they left unfinished business in Missoula.

“Our goals heading into the year were to win league and head to Tampa to win it all,” Waldsmith said. “That mindset carried throughout the season. Although we won league and made regionals, I don’t think we are totally satisfied with the outcome of our season, knowing our team’s potential.”

Waldsmith and the Ducks plan to stay hungry and go in to next season with the same mindset to conquer the same goal: win Oregon’s first ever National Club Baseball Association World Series championship.

“We will definitely have the same goals (next season),” Waldsmith said. “Everyone on this team wants to win it all and nothing short of that. We will be losing a lot of talent and leadership this year that you can’t replace, but we are a very deep team with a lot of talent so we are looking to come out just as good if not better next year.”

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Oregon baseball rallies late, however falls to Arizona State 8-6

The Ducks  baseball team had a comeback in the makings in the ninth inning, but it fell short. Oregon scored four runs in the final inning to close the gap on Arizona State, but the Sun Devils (26-21, 14-10 Pac-12) prevailed, winning 8-6. Oregon (36-16, 14-10) and ASU are now tied for third in the conference standings with two weeks left in the regular season.

The Ducks loaded the bases with one out in the ninth and began their comeback on Tyler Baumgartner’s RBI single to cut Arizona State’s lead to 8-3. Shaun Chase walked to push another run across and was followed by Mitchell Tolman, who singled home Aaron Payne.

With the score 8-5, pitcher Ryan Burr was replaced by Eder Erives, who sat down Kyle Garlick and A.J. Balta to end the game with runners on second and third. Garlick’s groundout scored a run to bring the score to 8-6.

Payne went 2-for-3 from the plate with two runs and one RBI, which came on a solo home run in the seventh.

Oregon starter Brando Tessar (4-1) ended his streak of 22.1 scoreless innings early. The Sun Devils scored five runs in the first, breaking the game open.

Jake Peevyhouse opened the scoring by doubling home Johnny Sewald. Peevyhouse scored two batters later when Nate Causey hit an RBI single. Causey and Brian Serven scored when Christopher Beall singled, bringing the first inning run total to five.

Arizona State subsequently scored off Tessar in the second and fourth, prompting George Horton to pull his starter after 3.2 innings.

Tessar allowed seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits with no walks and two strikeouts in his shortest start since April 2.

Arizona State tallied 15 hits in the game, with every starter recording at least one hit and five with multi-hit games.

ASU starting pitcher Darin Gillies (2-4) threw six innings while allowing one run (unearned) on two hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

The Ducks left a total of nine runners on base, six of which were in scoring position.

Arizona State outscored Oregon 21-15 in the three-game series and holds a 15-7 record against the Ducks since their reinstatement in 2009.

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Four errors lead to three runs as Oregon baseball beats Arizona State 5-4

Mitchell Tolman’s fifth inning triple combined with Arizona State’s three errors and 10 runners left on base helped Oregon (36-14, 14-8 Pac-12) beat ASU (24-21, 12-10) 5-4 in the first game of a three-game series Friday night in Tempe, Ariz.

Tolman carried the Ducks offensively with three RBIs and two runs scored and Josh Graham went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

Reigning Pac-12 player of the week Shaun Chase went 1-for-4 while hitting third, up from his usual sixth spot in the order.

Brian Serven went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and was one of three Sun Devils with multi-hit games.

Tommy Thorpe (8-4) gave up two runs on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts over five innings. Relievers Darrell Hunter, Jordan Spencer, Garrett Cleavinger and Jake Reed combined to pitch four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits.

Brett Lilek (4-4) gave up five runs (three earned) on four hits with a walk and nine strikeouts through seven innings for Arizona State.

Oregon got the scoring started in the second inning when Graham singled home Tolman, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Graham scored two batters later on an error on an Austin Grebeck grounder.

The Sun Devils answered in the bottom of the inning. Serven singled to left center with the bases loaded to score two runs, tying the game with no outs. Thorpe retired the next three batters to get out of the inning and limit the damage.

A two-out rally resulted in three more runs for the Ducks in the fifth. With two men on, Tolman tripled to left center to drive in two runs. Tolman scored later on the play on a throwing error to make the score 5-2.

Thorpe was pulled after five innings and replaced by Hunter. Hunter gave up consecutive singles to begin the sixth and gave up a run when Tucker Esmay grounded out to score Trever Allen.

Arizona State got another run in the eighth after the Ducks had two on with no outs but couldn’t add to their lead. Johnny Sewald reached on an error by defensive replacement Kevin Minjares at third, allowing Drew Stankiewicz to score and bring the score to 5-4. Cleavinger escaped the inning with two Sun Devils on base and left it up to the closer Reed in the ninth. Reed sat down the Sun Devils in order to preserve the win and pick up his 11th save of the season.

With the win, Oregon increased its lead in the Pac-12 standings to two games over the Sun Devils for third place.

Jeff Gold (9-0) and Ryan Kellogg (6-2) are Saturday’s probable starters.

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