Oregon daily emerald., June 20, 2000, Page 9A, Image 9

Emeralds
continued from page 7A
place up,” said second basemen
Blake Blasi, who was a 10th round
draft pick out of Wichita State this
year. “Everybody is really excited
to play in front of them and get it
going.”
That much so was evident in the
team’s BP session. Balls were fly
ing out of the park on a regular ba
sis as it appears the power supply
of the 2000 Ems is fully loaded.
Ems manager Danny Sheaffer
would casually crack a smile"
every time one of his pitches
would end up over the Oregon
Lottery sign in left, the Honey
Bucket sign in center or the Seren
ity Lane sign in right.
“We’re going to hit some balls
out of the ballpark,” said Sheaffer,
who is eager to begin his second
year as a manager. “We have some
guys that are young, but they’ve
got some ability. We don’t have a
whole lot of question marks.”
One question that does arise,
however, is the pitching. But with
14 pitchers on the roster the Ems
should be able to find enough
quality arms to carry them through
the grind of their 76 game season.
Helping out for at least the first
couple of weeks will be 27-year
old pitcher Rich Barker, who is
down in Eugene on a rehabilita
tion assignment to recover from
shoulder surgery. Barker is a valu
able asset to the team as he brings
the all-so important credentials of
having major league experience.
Last spring, when Cubs starter
Kevin Tapani was put on the in
jured list, Barker was called up
from Triple-A Iowa to fulfill his
lifelong dream. And although he
only made five appearances in a
brief 16-day stay, the environment
was one he said he’ll never forget
and one he hopes to return to
sometime soon.
“It was an awesome experi
ence,” said Barker, who is by far
the oldest player on the team. “I
just picked their brains and the
guys were great. Kerry Wood,
[Steve] Trachsel, [Rod] Beck and
[Mark] Grace were all willing to
share information with me. And
so now when my teammates ask
me questions, I try to help out as
much as I can.”
Another person who is helping
out a great deal is catcher Yoon
Min Kweon’s interpreter. Kweon
was signed by the Cubs last fall off
his Korean Junior National team
and is the headliner of the team’s
nine foreign players. Kweon’s in
terpreter will be the middle man
between Kweon and his coaches
and also with the media.
“I’ve never had that before so it’s
going to be a little difficult,” Sheaf
fer said. “But baseball is a univer
sal language. I can use sign lan
guage and also I think I can
express my point enough just by
facial expressions.”
Sheaffer also said he expects his
face to be a little less heated this
coming season. He said that last
season was a learning experience
for him, as he had to make the hard
transition from playing to coach
ing
“Last year I hit the ground run
ning and it was really hard for me
because I was still in a player
mode,” said Sheaffer, who has 17
years of professional experience.
“Some of the lessons that I learned
about expectations and develop
ment, I’ll be able to apply this year.
“And my blood pressure should
be a little bit lower than it was last
year.”
A key to keeping that blood
pressure low will be to get off to a
hot start, unlike a season ago in
which the Ems began their inau
gural campaign as a Cub affiliate
at a dismal 0-6. Things didn’t get
better as they finished last place in
the Southern Division of the
Northwest League with a record of
29-47.
But this is practically a whole
new team, with the only returnees
being pitchers Francis Beltran and
JoseCueto.
It all starts tonight when the
Ems battle the 1999 Northwest
League Champion Spokane Indi
ans at 7:05 p.m. in Avista Stadium.
“It’s going to be exciting to play
them,” Sheaffer said. “It’s going to
come down to pitching. We’re go
ing to catch it and we’re going to
hit it. We’ve just got to throw it.”
Athletes awarded recognitions
■ Oregon honored athletes
with a postseason banquet,
while a few individuals were
recognized by the Pac-10
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The 1999-2000 Oregon athletic
season may have ended three
weeks ago, but the accolades keep
coming on in.
At the top of the list are the pres
tigious Pacific-10 Conference
Medal awards, which are given to
each school’s outstanding male
and female student-athlete who
showed the “greatest combination
of performance and achievement
in scholarship, athletics and lead
ership.”
The Oregon recipients for this
season were seniors A.D. Smith of
the men’s basketball team and
Anika Heuser of the women’s golf
team.
The two both performed ad
mirably in and out of the class
room, in leading their teams to the
NCAA Basketball Tournament
and NCAA Women’s Golf Cham
pionships, respectively.
Smith became the first player in
Oregon history to rank in the top
10 in field goal percentage (.512),
free throw shooting (.780) and
three-point shooting (.389). To top
it off, he completed his first year of
graduate school, after already
earning his degree in business ad
ministration last spring with a
GPAof3.55.
Heuser finished off her memo
rable Duck career with a scoring
average of 77.7. Her highlight of
the season was finishing tied for
11th with an average round of 75
at the Pac-10 Championships —
the second-best performance in
Oregon history. Even more im
pressive was her average in the
classroom, as the Wuppertal, Ger
many native finished with a 4.02
GPA in business administration.
The softball team (36-29) was
the highlight of the spring sports
season as it appeared in its third
consecutive NCAA Tournament.
In a banquet held earlier this
month the team presented its an
Emerald archive
A.D. Smith was honored with the Pac-10 Medal for his work on and off the court.
nual postseason awards.
To the surprise of nobody, sen
ior Jill Robinson was selected as
the team’s Most Valuable Player.
The slugger set the Oregon career
home run record (32), the single
season mark (15) and the career
record for runs scored (154).
Two freshmen who had just as
much to do with the success as
anybody were also awarded for
their efforts. Andrea Vidlund was
named Newcomer of the Year and
Alyssa Laux was tabbed as the
Most Inspirational Player.
Vidlund boasted the best pitch
ing record on the squad with a 17
8 mark. She threw the first Oregon
no-hitter since 1989, when she
beat Portland 8-0 on March 18.
Vidlund had 96 strikeouts on the
year and allowed only 54 earned
runs in 146 innings of work.
Laux was the Ducks’ second
leading hitter in the NCAA Tour
nament, going five-for-13 for a
.385 clip in four games.
On the men’s track side, senior
long distance runner Steve Fein
earned the Most Inspirational
award and the Bill Dellinger Cross
Country Award. The Outstanding
Athlete award went to sophomore
high jumper Jason Boness, who
finished off his first season as a
Duck with All-American honors.
And just last Wednesday, the Pac
10 named Boness as the league’s
Newcomer of the Year.
Senior long jumper Nat Johnson
was given the Most Improved hon
or and sophomore decathalete
Santiago Lorenzo was presented
with the High Point Scorer award.
For the women, sophomore
heptathalete Jenny Kenyon was
tabbed as the Most Improved
while senior long distance runner
Annie Ebiner was voted Most In
spirational. Freshman Amy Nick
erson was given the Cross Country
Award and fellow freshman Mary
Etter was awarded with the High
Point Scorer award for her work in
the discus and hammer.
Senior Katie Crabb and junior
Karis Howell were presented with
co-Performer of the Year honors as
each helped make up for a some
what down season for the women.
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