Spring Break
OSU faces stiff competition
Head coach Pat Casey gears his team up for a run at its third straight national title
Kacy Hochstatter
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Sports
This Friday the Oregon State baseball team will begin its defense of back-to-back national championships when it plays Vanderbilt in the DeMarini Invitational hosted by Arizona State. Although many of the team's faces have changed from previous years, the face of the program, head coach Pat Casey, remains.
Casey has turned Oregon State baseball into a one of the best programs in the country in a geographical region where it was once unheard of. The last three years have been a great ride for Beaver fans. The new season brings a lot of excitement and high expectations from the fans, but this is a different team, and Casey realizes this young team still has a lot of learning to do.
"The one thing we try to establish is that each club is different and getting to the College World Series is the goal of everybody in the country," Casey said. "Our goal is to be the best club that our talent allows us to be. This club has challenges that maybe last year's didn't. We are going to be playing people that don't have any Division I experience."
Young players' quick development is going to be crucial for the Beavers as Casey needs to find ways of replacing some of the best players in school history. First-round draft picks Mitch Canham and Eddie Kunz are gone, as is do-everything shortstop Darwin Barney. Not only were they great players, but they were the leaders in the clubhouse as well. Replacing those leaders is a high priority for the coaching staff.
"Coaches don't get to play, so hopefully our players will have leadership," Casey said. "We need leaders who will understand that they have to get the rest of the team ready to play. We have some older guys - Stutes, Reyes, Wells, Robertson - that understand that they gotta bring it to the park every day because every game is the biggest game of the year."
Every game will be big. The two-time defending champion team has a large target on its back, and nothing will come easy, especially when the rest of the conference is as tough as it is this year. The Pac-10 is the premier baseball conference in the country, and its talent level is perhaps as good this year as it has ever been. A host of teams will be looking to take back what was once theirs and the Beavers have to be ready.
Casey has turned Oregon State baseball into a one of the best programs in the country in a geographical region where it was once unheard of. The last three years have been a great ride for Beaver fans. The new season brings a lot of excitement and high expectations from the fans, but this is a different team, and Casey realizes this young team still has a lot of learning to do.
"The one thing we try to establish is that each club is different and getting to the College World Series is the goal of everybody in the country," Casey said. "Our goal is to be the best club that our talent allows us to be. This club has challenges that maybe last year's didn't. We are going to be playing people that don't have any Division I experience."
Young players' quick development is going to be crucial for the Beavers as Casey needs to find ways of replacing some of the best players in school history. First-round draft picks Mitch Canham and Eddie Kunz are gone, as is do-everything shortstop Darwin Barney. Not only were they great players, but they were the leaders in the clubhouse as well. Replacing those leaders is a high priority for the coaching staff.
"Coaches don't get to play, so hopefully our players will have leadership," Casey said. "We need leaders who will understand that they have to get the rest of the team ready to play. We have some older guys - Stutes, Reyes, Wells, Robertson - that understand that they gotta bring it to the park every day because every game is the biggest game of the year."
Every game will be big. The two-time defending champion team has a large target on its back, and nothing will come easy, especially when the rest of the conference is as tough as it is this year. The Pac-10 is the premier baseball conference in the country, and its talent level is perhaps as good this year as it has ever been. A host of teams will be looking to take back what was once theirs and the Beavers have to be ready.
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