Spring Break
Oh, how times have changed
Nick Lilja
Issue date: 3/14/07 Section: Sports
This time last year Goss Stadium was only half full, the softball team couldn't lose, Mike Riley was on the hot seat and my radio show, The NickelBlock, was nationally syndicated.
What a difference a year makes.
Goss Stadium is now bursting at the seams, the softball team is going through its woes, Jay John is on the hot seat and my show is ... how should I put it ... less popular.
Goss Stadium is now crowded. At the home opener, 1,907 Beaver Believers came out to watch America's favorite pastime. And they got a show. That Evansville team definitely had purple "aces" after they got slapped by the Beaver lineup.
Quick props to Evansville pitcher Ben Norton for throwing the fat pitch that allowed Jordan Linnerton to lose his Coleman Field home run virginity. I was sitting in the press box, and I could still see Linnerton's "O" face as he trotted along the bases. (Insert your own set of Office Space Lumberg/Linnerton jokes here.)
The Beavers went on to sweep the series and improved to 17-3 on the season. Dallas Buck who? He hasn't been missed on the mound thanks to Daniel Turpen and Mike Stutes. They are a combined 9-0 on the mound with a 2.6 ERA.
Speaking of combined efforts on the mound, it seems like just yesterday the eighth-ranked Oregon State softball team had just extended its winning streak to 21 games, one shy of a school record, when it pounded Ball State 6-1. Fate would rain out the next games against Fresno State and Central Florida, allowing Kirk Walker to return home to grab his 400th win.
But it wasn't yesterday, and the softball team is now 15-9 as they return home from the Hawaiian Invitational, where they suffered two loses to the host, Hawaii, and almost dropped games to Liberty and Pacific. That reminds me, Lady Sovereign Mia Longfellow is officially the biggest midget in the game. The five-footer crushed a two-out three-run walk off home run in the seventh inning to give the Beavers the "W" against Pacific.
What a difference a year makes.
Goss Stadium is now bursting at the seams, the softball team is going through its woes, Jay John is on the hot seat and my show is ... how should I put it ... less popular.
Goss Stadium is now crowded. At the home opener, 1,907 Beaver Believers came out to watch America's favorite pastime. And they got a show. That Evansville team definitely had purple "aces" after they got slapped by the Beaver lineup.
Quick props to Evansville pitcher Ben Norton for throwing the fat pitch that allowed Jordan Linnerton to lose his Coleman Field home run virginity. I was sitting in the press box, and I could still see Linnerton's "O" face as he trotted along the bases. (Insert your own set of Office Space Lumberg/Linnerton jokes here.)
The Beavers went on to sweep the series and improved to 17-3 on the season. Dallas Buck who? He hasn't been missed on the mound thanks to Daniel Turpen and Mike Stutes. They are a combined 9-0 on the mound with a 2.6 ERA.
Speaking of combined efforts on the mound, it seems like just yesterday the eighth-ranked Oregon State softball team had just extended its winning streak to 21 games, one shy of a school record, when it pounded Ball State 6-1. Fate would rain out the next games against Fresno State and Central Florida, allowing Kirk Walker to return home to grab his 400th win.
But it wasn't yesterday, and the softball team is now 15-9 as they return home from the Hawaiian Invitational, where they suffered two loses to the host, Hawaii, and almost dropped games to Liberty and Pacific. That reminds me, Lady Sovereign Mia Longfellow is officially the biggest midget in the game. The five-footer crushed a two-out three-run walk off home run in the seventh inning to give the Beavers the "W" against Pacific.
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