Sports
6A
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Th e Observer
EOU baseball roster loaded as team works through fall practice
By Ronald Bond
EOU BASEBALL RECRUITING CLASS
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
COVID-19 pandemic meant
Eastern Oregon University
head baseball coach Mike
McInerney had less time for
in-person recruiting as he
would have liked.
If there is a silver lining,
though: He brought more
players to the squad.
McInerney’s roster for
the upcoming season for the
resurrected baseball pro-
gram will have 43 players
— eight more than he set
out to bring in when he was
named baseball coach ear-
lier this year.
“Thirty-fi ve is your typ-
ical roster. I wanted to get
that no matter what,” he
said. “As COVID started
happening, you’re trying
to protect (players) and
make sure if you have fi ve
guys in a house and they
had to quarantine (that you
still have enough players).
I decided to bump it up. I
signed a guy really late that
we needed. I settled on 43.
Felt it was a good roster.”
The program’s fi rst
signee was La Grande Tiger
Justin Frederick, and McIn-
erney added three more La
Grande High School ath-
letes to the roster: pitcher
Parker Robinson, infi elder
Isaac Chamberlain — a
transfer from Columbia
Basin College — and
former LHS infi elder Jon
Gonzalez.
“Isaac, when he’s been
in, he looks awesome. He’s
done really good. Parker
has the same thing,” McIn-
erney said. “He’s super tal-
ented. He can play at the
college level, no doubt.”
Ronald Bond/The Observer, File
La Grande’s Parker Robinson delivers a pitch during the 2019 baseball season. Robinson
is one of four former La High School baseball players signed to the Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity roster for the upcoming season.
The early stages of
fall practice, McInerney
said, have brought some
surprises.
“Easton Watterson, an
outfi elder from Treasure
Valley (Community Col-
lege) — we saw him as a
versatile guy who could
be small-ball and handle
the bat and bunt, (but) he
has shown some power,
so he has balanced out the
lineup,” the coach said. “He
and Austin Gerding are a
couple outfi elders that will
have some double or home
run threat.”
The coach said there will
be a lot of small-ball with
the roster, but there also are
“four or fi ve with power
potential.”
“We’ve been super
demanding of all the
players. They continue to
bring it every single day,”
McInerney said of the early
practices. “We tried going
slow at fi rst. Some of these
guys haven’t played base-
ball in spring or summer,
and some have been locked
away (in quarantine). We
tried to go slow (and) we
avoided most of the injuries.
Once we got everybody
in shape, we have been
pushing them hard.”
The roster includes 14
pitchers, two of whom will
be two-way players who
can also step into a different
position on the fi eld.
“We feel good with that.
As long as everyone stays
healthy, we should be in a
good spot,” he said.
McInerney also noted
Frederick, Gonzalez, Jamie
Powell, Adrian Roa and
Nick Jennings are players
who have stepped up during
the fall.
Locking down player
positions will be a focal
point for McInerney before
the team begins game
action in early 2021.
“We’re still fi guring that
out,” he said. “I recruited
three or four shortstops.
Obviously you’re shuffl ing
them around and evalu-
ating. It’s a footwork thing.
Sometimes you can be an
incredible shortstop and not
be able to play second. It’s
different footwork. We’re a
• PLAYER — Town (Previous School) — Position
• Kolbe Bales — Dufur (Western Oregon University) — LHP
• Garrett Beckman — Lewiston, Idaho — 1B
• Matt Bennett — Portland (Brescia) — C
• Austin Brown — Salem (Chemeketa Community College)
— RHP
• Isaac Chamberlain — La Grande (Columbia Basin College)
— 3B
• Trevor Curl — Newcastle, Washington (Yuba College) — 1B/3B
• Brooks Dyer — Vancouver, Washington (Benedictine U) — SS
• Turner Edwards — Walla Walla, Washington (Walla Walla Com-
munity College) — RHP
• Connor Fajardo — Tigard (Chemeketa CC) — SS
• Justin Frederick — La Grande — 2B
• Austin Gerding — Philomath (Chemeketa CC) — OF
• Payton Hamilton — Boise, Idaho (Treasure Valley Community
College) — 2B
• Cooper Hewett — Hillsboro (Century High School) — 2B
• Nick Jennings — Vancouver (Lower Columbia) — RHP
• Kagen Kennedy — Las Vegas (Barstow Community College)
— OF
• Kyle Knudtson — Prineville (Crook County) — RHP
• Blake Loftus — Kennewick, Washington (Eastern Washington
University) — OF
• Cooper Lund — Lewiston, Idaho (TVCC) — LHP
• Elliott Marks — Walla Walla (WWCC) — C
• Carsten Manderbach — Benton City, WA (BMCC) — SS
• Noah Owens — Kuna, Idaho (Cole Valley Christian) — C
• Adam Plant — Bend (La Pine HS) — INF
• Jamie Powell — Las Vegas, NV (Centennial HS) — 1B/3B
• Jordan Rios — Moses Lake, WA (Wenatchee Valley) — RHP
• Adrian Roa — Irrigon (BMCC) — SS
• Cooper Roberts — Pendleton — RHP
• Parker Robinson — La Grande — RHP
• Dominic Smith — The Dalles — INF
• Lukas Tolan — Walla Walla (WWCC) — RHP
• Kaden Walker — Winters, California (Pangos High School)
— 1B
• Brooks Wann — Nampa, Idaho (Canyon High School) — C
• Easton Watterson — Ontario (TVCC) — OF
• Mason Wirth — Tangent (Santiam Christian) — C
• Tyler Worwood — Wilder, Idaho (Caldwell High School) — INF
• Jaydon Yancey — Meridian, Idaho (Blue Mountain Community
College) — RHP
• Mike Bennett — Portland (Corban University) — OF
• Miles Norman — Portland (Chemeketa CC) — OF
• Jacob Farnsworth — La Pine (Feather River College) — LHP
• Jonathan Gonzalez — La Grande (College of Idaho) — OF
• Laken Young — Spokane, Washington (University High School)
— OF
• Stephen Wade — Victoria, B.C. (College of Southern Idaho)
— LHP
• Tristan Fergus — Dayton (Chemeketa CC) — 1B
• Kyle Lund — Eugene (Chemeketa CC) — LHP/OF
month into it. We’re literally
still evaluating and moving
guys around. We’ll be eval-
uating past Christmas.”
Seahawks at 5-0 to start season
Associated press
SEATTLE — By this
point, Russell Wilson
piecing together more late
dramatics that ends with
the Seahawks erupting in
celebration seems almost
expected.
Wilson capped a 94-yard
drive with a 6-yard touch-
down pass to DK Metcalf
on fourth-and-goal with 15
seconds left, and the Seattle
Seahawks beat the Minne-
sota Vikings 27-26.
Seattle improved to 5-0
for the fi rst time in fran-
chise history Sunday, Oct.
11, with another late-game
comeback. Wilson fi nished
20 of 32 for 217 yards and
three touchdowns.
It wasn’t his best per-
formance — he had a pass
intercepted by Eric Wilson
on a careless attempt
midway through the fourth
quarter — but he made the
key throws late.
Minnesota’s Kirk
Cousins was 27 of 39 for
249 yards and two sec-
ond-half TD passes to
Adam Thielen. Alexander
Mattison rushed for a
career-high 112 yards.
But Seattle stopped Mat-
tison on fourth-and-less-
than-a yard at the Seattle
6 with 1:57 left, setting the
stage for yet another Wilson
comeback.
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