SB Nation User Blog: rvm

Astoria's Jordan Poyer wins Brian T. Meehan Oregon Baseball Player of the Year award

rvm — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:33:03 -0000

Astoria's Jordan Poyer wins Brian T. Meehan Oregon Baseball Player of the Year award

"Astoria outfielder Jordan Poyer, who plans to play football and baseball at Oregon State next year, was selected the first Brian T. Meehan Oregon Baseball Player of the Year. The award, to be presented annually by The Oregonian, recognizes a top senior high school player in Oregon."

Ryan Ortiz Named To All-Pac-10 First Team

rvm — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:03:07 -0000

Ryan Ortiz Named To All-Pac-10 First Team

RVM's Regular Season in Review: Part Two

rvm — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:01:22 -0000

As promised, or threatened, here is the second and concluding RVM's "Baseball Year in Review" posting. If you missed Part One, you may want to get caught up to speed.

In this one I want to review the defense and pitching for the year. As always I very much welcome anyone's thoughts.

Greg Peavey pitches, Oregon State vs. Arizona State: Game Two, 5/2/09, RVM

Pitching

Pitching this year was a bit of a ride in that it seemed like at the start of the season the closing part of the rotation was killing us, then later it was the middle part of the rotation, then all of the sudden the starters lost their touch and focus. One good part of this is that the team didn't really have bad streaks where all the parts of the rotation played poorly at once. The first UW game comes to mind in how Robles pitched a wonderful game, but then the mid-relief almost lost it, and finally the closer Rhoderick came in and took care of business. But then you had the second UW game or the first WSU game and the starters just got us too much in a hole, or the first game of the season against Tennessee where Rhoderick lost the game for the team in the ninth inning. But maybe this paints too critical picture for looking back at the entire season the pitching was pretty good. If you look at the national placement of the pitching stats below it does become apparent that OSU pitching was very competitive.

The microcosm of this idea for me award goes to Jorge Reyes. Reyes looked great at times such as against UO and Hawai'i, but at other times struggled such as against Missouri State and ASU. Then at times Reyes was solid enough to help lead the team to victory such as against UA and USC. That said, I am expecting to see his leadership in the post-season.

All in all to have any success in the post-season the pitching needs to stay well-rounded throughout the rotation. A bad performance in any of the areas could be picked up by other parts of the rotation, but at the same time a really bad performance by one area or a poor showing by more than one pitcher during a game will send the team home. Also, I (along with others on BtD) believe Reyes, Gaviglio and possibly Gorton (maybe Waldron?) will be key to any type of post-season run. I do also think that the pitching started to come around nicely at the end of the season, not perfection but there were moments of being pretty close thanks to Waldron and especially Gaviglio.

In conclusion, I will say the team looks to have some extremely promising young pitchers in Gaviglio and Gorton; so along with the experienced sophomore class in Nygren, Osich, Peavey, Rhoderick, Robles, Sitton, and Waldron I'm thinking we should have some very good years ahead.

Final Out! Sitton strikes out the batter, Oregon State vs. Washington State: Game Two, 5/16/09, RVM

The pitching totals for the year ended as this:

-Team ERA: 3.69 (opponent ERA: 5.80), which was 7th in the nation out of 288 schools ranked.
-Strikeouts: 401 (opponent strikeouts: 332), which was 58th in the nation for strikeouts per nine innings out of 288 schools ranked.
-Hits allowed: 404 (opponent hits allowed: 477), which was 3rd in the nation for hits allowed per nine innings out of 288 schools ranked.
-Doubles allowed: 71 (opponent doubles allowed: 81)
-Triples allowed: 9 (opponent triples allowed: 13)
-HRs allowed: 30 (opponent HRs allowed: 22)
-Base on balls: 182 (opponent base on balls: 283), which was 77th in the nation for walks allowed per nine innings out of 288 schools ranked.
-B/Avg for opponents: .237 (opponent B/Avg against OSU batters: .275)
-Pick offs: 5

Onwards to the defense and final thoughts after the break!

Koa Kahalehoe makes the catch, Oregon State vs. Arizona State: Game Two, 5/2/09, RVM

Defense

Overall this year the defense was really solid. There was the one really bad and jaw-dropping five error Sunday game against UCLA. And there were a few, but not many, games where the fielding cost the team a game. One such example was the fourth inning error in the Friday UCLA game that really allowed the Bruins to sneak away with a 7 to 5 win. But you figure in a long but fast season there will be a couple games like this, and the Beavs ended up one of the best Pac-10 defensive teams so no complaints here!

Again, the defense was excellent when the pitching and batting went through spells of struggling. One example I thought was telling, even though it did not lead to a win, was the Sunday game against WSU and the bats went quiet late in the game and Rhoderick had just gave up his first extra base hit as a Beaver. But the defense threw out a runner at home on that Stanford extra base hit and kept the Beavs in position to tie or win it being only down one run in the ninth (but alas it didn't work out). Another much better example, this time combining with stellar pitching for a win, was the Friday Stanford game. Yes, there was one error but the team turned a couple double plays and overall the defense behind Sam Gaviglio contributed to a shutout on the road.

One specific area I thought was excellent was the team turned 51 double plays (61st in the country out of 288 schools), and many times at key points in the game. In regards of individual players Wong, Tommasini, and Norris were very good in the infield, but will have to say my defensive MVP goes to John Wallace. He was solid as heck in center field. I got to witness his play first-hand during the Saturday ASU game, where he not only stole a HR but made an incredible diving catch that lead to a double play. These two plays were huge in that one run win for the Beavs.

Ryan Ortiz fielding the bunt, Oregon State vs. Washington State: Game Two, 5/16/09, RVM

Personally, I'm very confident about the young pitching and defensive players coming back, such as Carter Bell looks to be an excellent replacement for Wong in the infield. I think the problems could be more in replacing the bats of people like Ortiz and Santos (if these players don't come back next year).

The Beavers ended the season with 48 errors and a fielding % of .976 (as compared to the opponents total of 70 errors and fielding % of .965 versus the Beavs), not bad. The OSU fielding % ended at 11th in the country (out of 288 schools ranked).

Wong and Tommasini double play ball, Oregon State vs. Arizona State: Game Two, 5/2/09, RVM

Final Thoughts

As I've talked about previously this season was a bit of a mystery to me. I was really excited about the promise the team was showing in non-conference play, then got in a bit of a back and forth with the team going hot and cold in conference play, and finally ended on a good note at Stanford.

Can the team make a run in the post-season? Personally, I think they have the talent to do it. But the team is lacking both a specific leader like Darwin Barney or Jacoby Ellsbury and so far has been lacking a really strong team identity. I think with this team they need to establish the latter and get that team identity to make a run to Omaha. The problem is there is not a lot of time to do this.

Overall, when I looked back on the season it really had some good and exciting moments. Sure it was frustrating at times, but that's baseball (I think one of the toughest sports to be a fan in). It was a pretty darn good year that could well still be a great one.

Celebrating the win, Oregon State vs. Arizona State: Game Two, 5/2/09, RVM

RVM's Regular Season in Review: Part One

rvm — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:34:46 -0000

Bases loaded and a great day for baseball!, Oregon State vs. Washington State: Game Two, 5/16/09, RVM

The regular season is over and the Beavers are moving on to the post season. As such, I thought I would post some of my thoughts about the season. As you all might have realized baseball is my favorite OSU sport, and as always these are just my fan thoughts (with maybe a stat thrown in here and there for good measure). I very much welcome anyone else's thoughts, and here's to many more baseball updates for the next month!

The Beavs ended the season at 35 - 17 overall and 15 - 12 in conference play. This was an improvement over last year's record of 28 - 24 overall and 11 - 13 in the conference, and it was even a better conference record than 2007's 10 - 14.

General Thoughts

Compared to last year it was an improvement overall. But at the same time some of last year's issues seemed to come up again, such as the problems with LOB and end of the season poorly played conference series. This year though, I really thought the Beavs showed a better skill for bouncing back from poor showings early on. I also felt much better in finishing off those early/mid week games such as BYU, Oregon, Portland, and Gonzaga. Those games really seemed to kill us last year. But still can't take care of USC and WSU! And the way the team ended the Pac-10 season was a disappointment, except for taking the Stanford series on the road. But don't want to focus too much on the negatives for this was a very solid year overall with some pretty exciting moments.

Highlights: 1) ASU series, with a couple great Pac-10 programs going at it for three hard fought games, and it was especially satisfying in that we won two of them; 2) Waldron's complete Gonzaga pitching performance; 3) Reyes 11 K performance against Hawai'i; 4) Ortiz's offensive performance after a sluggish start, 5) the double W grand slams (Wong versus Utah Valley and Wallace versus Oregon); and 6) Gaviglio's complete game shutout on the road against Stanford in game one (this guy is a Freshman!).

On the right: Final OSU vs. ASU scoreboard: Game Two , 5/2/09, RVM

Lowlights: The Missouri State, USC, UCLA (especially the five error performance on Sunday), UW (especially that second game), and WSU series. Nuff' said.

Concerns: 1) Except for the ASU series the Beavs never did really beat a top notch team this year, and now most teams in the post-season are going to be high caliber teams, thus leading to this next question: 2) Can the Beavs put together well rounded pitching and offensive performances in the post-season? 3) Is Ortiz coming back?

Hmm, and that was exciting for what reason?: The renewed Civil War in baseball just did not really grab me as much as I thought it would. I guess the Portland and Salem games were awesome in bringing in the fans, and it was an excellent performance by Reyes in game three. But I don't know, having one team outplay the other by 43 to 11 runs just got a bit old after awhile. I mean the most "exciting" game was the extra inning UO win, but really that game was just a really poorly played one. I know, I know, the Beavs came out on top (5 games to 1) and I should feel great about that all, but in the end it just seemed like it all went a bit overboard in scheduling the games and milking this renewed Civil War. With that all said here's to better Civil War games in the very near future!

"Okay, Gang, Let's split up and search for clues!": The clues were hidden there in some dominating performances (Tennessee 14-4, Northern Illinois 23-7, Utah Valley 7-0 & 17-2, Oregon 10-2 & 14-4, and ASU 10-5), but just what happened to the offense this season? At times it either disappeared into the swamp or seemed to be peeking out from behind the grandfather clock at us, taunting us to discover who this team really could be.

Season MVP: Tie between Ryan Ortiz (.343 batting average with 42 RBIs and a slugging average of .498) and Sam Gaviglio (9-1 with a 2.84 ERA and 49 strikeouts).

Almost last but not least: Lots of young talent on this team and even though this year was frustrating at times there is still lots to look forward to in terms of the future of Beaver baseball. Plus, there were a lot of fun highlights to the regular season and it's not over yet.

Last but not least: Congratulations to Pat Casey on reaching the 500 win milestone! It has been a pleasure following the success Coach Casey has instilled into the baseball program here, and I'm looking forward to many more wins.

Thoughts about the offense after the break! And watch for Part Two to be posted Wednesday morning.

Jared Norris sizes up the incoming pitch, Oregon State vs. Washington State: Game Two, 5/16/09, RVM

Offense

As noted previously, the offense this year sure became an interesting, and frustrating, mystery. The team was really wowing me at the beginning of the season with the two new bats in Romero and Santos complementing the hard hitting veterans Wallace, Norris , and especially Ortiz. What was especially impressive was how strong the entire order was hitting, and also how well the team was hitting when Ortiz had his slow start. It was great to see players such as Tommasini, Kahalehoe, Folsom, Carter, and Miller belting out key hits, many times extra base hits, to break open games.

But then things changed and the hitting started to go flat as the team got deeper into conference play. I don't really have an idea why, I guess Pac-10 play is much tougher in terms of pitching quality, but the Beavs also played against some top-notch pitchers such as Oklahoma State's Andrew Oliver and did fine (scoring 3 runs on 6 hits against Oliver). What was interesting was how Ortiz really took off later in the season and really was spectacular at times, but then others in the lineup lost their touch. You could really see how this mystery stumped also the coaching staff in the changes made in the lineup later in the season. The moving of Miller and Wallace all around really highlighted this to me. But the Miller change sure paid off at the end with such hitting performances as his 3 for 5 against Stanford in the key Friday game in an important series.

On the right: Ryan Ortiz batting, Oregon State vs. Washington State : Game Two, 5/16/09, RVM

So let's take a quick moment and talk about the LOB/RISP stat for the season, which was 455. I know that earlier on I was one to take a stance that this was not a huge issue, but will admit it did come around to haunt the Beavs and cost them some much needed wins (against USC, UCLA, UW, and especially WSU). Let's take the third WSU game and the Beavs had a great chance to put it away with a bases loaded opportunity in third, but did not score more than two runs with one out and one run was due to a walk. The game wasn't all that bad in terms of LOB with only six, but these little things added up to losses such as happened against WSU in both of the Ls. It will have to improve if the Beavs want to advance far in the post-season. But at the same time when the bats were going it was magical to watch those 4, 5, 6 run innings and throw this in with the strong defense and some good pitching this team could be, and at times was, unbeatable.

Basehit for Koa Kahalehoe, Oregon State vs. Washington State: Game Two, 5/16/09, RVM

In conclusion, the offense really summed up the season for me. The mystery of how so much talent could be so hot and cold just was baffling at times. I still think this is one of the best hitting OSU teams in recent years, but just never seemed to get that at the plate leadership (even with Ortiz batting .343) to ignite the entire lineup. I also thought that with some non-aggressive base running this team lacked that edginess of 2006 and 2007 where they just put a lot of pressure on pitchers and infielders. I'm not even really thinking about stealing either, but more of the small ball mental games those championship teams excelled at with bunting, stealing at the right time, giving pitchers different looks on the base paths, etc.

I do really think this team has the talent to be a very dangerous offensive team, but time is running out on 2009 to show college baseball the aggressiveness that seems dormant right now. But to me it is a sleeping tiger that I think can be woken up with some very strong bats all through the line-up, just ask ASU or UO!

The team offensive totals for the year ended as this:

-Team batting average: .275 (opponent batting average: .237)
-Hits: 477 (opponent hits: 404)
-Doubles: 81 (opponent doubles: 71)
-Triples: 13 (opponent triples: 9)
-HRs: 22 (opponent HRs: 30)
-RBIs: 317 (opponent RBIs: 197)
-Team slugging average: .375 (opponent slugging average: .342)
-Strikeouts: 332 (opponent strikeouts: 401)
-Base on balls: 283 (opponent base on balls: 182)
-Stolen bases: 50 for 66 attempts

Stefan Romero makes contact, Oregon State vs. Arizona State: Game Two, 5/2/09, RVM

--RVM

More NFL possibilities: Thompson, Morales, and Laybourn

rvm — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:57:42 -0000

Two Beavers signed free agent contracts: OT Tavita Thompson with the NY Jets and WR Shane Morales with the Arizona Cardinals. And the New Orleans Saints have invited S Greg Laybourn to their rookie mini-camp.

Things all fell apart: OSU loses game three, 5-2, to UCLA

rvm — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:41:06 -0000

Photo by Ethan Erickson

View full size photo uploaded April 27, 2009

Well, I guess I can't just get to write about the good ones, and oh my was this a not so good one. Coming off what I agree with Mike Parker as one of the best baseball come backs in recent memory, the Beavs coughed up, choked on their gloves, and threw away the rubber game 2 to 5 yesterday. Or as the athletic site titled it all: Uncharacteristic Errors Fuel Beavers' Loss In UCLA Series Finale.

Basically it came down to five errors that led to four unearned runs. I mean it was issues in the infield, outfield, and so on that just killed the Beavs Sunday. You could feel all the energy of the game go out of the Beavs, and even with some sluggish hitting there was some good stuff going on with the offense in the beginning but that all went away in the last few innings. I don't want to take too much away from the Bruins' pitchers but again it just felt like the Beavs lost any spark to get things turned around once those last array of errors gave UCLA the lead.

The offense highlight was the back to back two out doubles by Wong then Ortiz to take the lead.

I think one of the more frustrating things about it all was that Jorge Reyes really pitched a pretty good game with only allowing six hits and one unearned run. I swear five of those were to hitters under 200 averages for the year! But he was really strong against the core of UCLA's order, such as striking out hitters like Decker three times! But all for not for Reyes got the loss.

Really that's all about there is. That was not a good game and the team is playing Oregon this Tuesday then is going into a very challenging series against ASU. ASU will be very tough to take a series from (I doubt very much we can get a sweep) but now it is a very much a must win series to really have chance (albeit a small chance now) at hosting a regional.

I'll be at the ASU Saturday game and yes I'm still excited about seeing some OSU baseball! Will try and get some pics and hope to see all of Beaver Nation there!

Go Beavs!!!

Box score details for the game follow the break (if you really want to see them).

To read the full box score and play-by-play go here.

Afalava to Chicago and Stroughter to Tampa Bay

rvm — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:17:00 -0000

S Al Afalava goes in the NFL Draft as the 190th pick (6th round) to the Chicago Bears, and WR Sammie Stroughter goes as the 233rd pick (7th round) to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

via assets.espn.go.com

via i2.cdn.turner.com

Brandon Hughes to San Diego in the 5th round

rvm — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:08:38 -0000

CB Brandon Hughes goes in the NFL Draft as the 148th pick (5th round) to the San Diego Chargers.

via cache.daylife.com

Baseball Open Thread: at UCLA, Game 3

rvm — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:40:23 -0000

via grfx.cstv.com

Well, it comes down to this! As a series this has been a competitive one, but I'm sure I'm not alone and saying I do hope the Beavs take this last/rubber game in a more definitive fashion (but won't complain too much as long as it is a W).

A win today puts the Beavs back in nice position going into the series with first place ASU next week.

Game information:

Game Time: 1 p.m. PT.
Pitching: RHP: Jorge Reyes (5-1, 3.68 ERA) versus RHP: Charles Brewer (1-4, 3.86 ERA)

Go Beavs!

A few quick thoughts about Saturday: First what a great win! After going ahead and then again losing the lead the Beavers really came out and showed some impressive grit to score three runs in the ninth to pull out the 5 to 3 win. Again Joey Wong just seems to find the spark at the right time after really doing nothing on offense. And some great and stressful (for me) line-up calls/substitutions by the coaching staff after Coach Casey was ejected. That all said, I would really like to see the bottom part of the batting order step up more, get back to the more rounded line-up we saw earlier in the season. And yes this means I really want to see Tommasini get out of his batting funk.

The defense was very sharp I thought, and the D made some awesome game saving plays. Peavey and Osich did have their rough spots but kept it close enough, along with the excellent play behind them, to give the offense the chance to win it. Especially impressive was Peavey getting out of that bases-loaded situation in the third inning! Grbavac also did a fine job and Rhoderick cleaned up nicely picking up the win.

I think most everyone on the poll below has been feeling about the same as I have and this is very important series to take. You know all in all I would have really liked to have the team easily win it Saturday, but at the same time I think the motivation that this close win gave the team could go a long way. But we'll all see tomorrow for it is all even and winner takes the series!

Slade Norris to Oakland in the 4th round

rvm — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:47:47 -0000

LB Slade Norris goes in the NFL Draft as the 126th pick (4th round) to the Oakland Raiders . The Yahoo Draft tracker had this to say about the pick:

Analysis: The Raiders get a productive edge rusher who plays with great pride and a non-stop motor. Oakland needed to address their defensive line and we could see Norris developing into solid pass rusher.

via cache.daylife.com