SPORTS
A6 — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, JanuaRy 22, 2022
Jorgensen signs to play baseball at WOU
ON THE SLATE
Saturday, Jan. 22
COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL
La Grande standout
to continue baseball
career for Wolves
Southern Oregon at Eastern Oregon, 5 p.m.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Southern Oregon at Eastern Oregon, 3 p.m.
COLLEGE MEN’S WRESTLING
Eastern Oregon at Missouri Valley Invitational, TBa
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD
Eastern Oregon at Lauren McClusky Memorial
Open, Moscow, Idaho, TBa
The Observer
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Weston-McEwen at union, 5:30 p.m.
Pine Eagle at Elgin, 5:30 p.m.
Cove at Imbler, 5:30 p.m.
Wallowa at Griswold, 5:30 p.m.
Enterprise at Stanfield, 4 p.m.
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Pine Eagle at Elgin, 2 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at union, 4 p.m.
Cove at Imbler, 4 p.m.
Wallowa at Griswold, 4 p.m.
EOU athletics cuts
concessions amid
COVID-19 spike
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — In the midst of a
spike in the COVID-19 pandemic, Eastern
Oregon University Athletics announced on
Wednesday, Jan. 19, that it will not offer
concessions or hospitality dining at home
sporting events.
According to the statement from the uni-
versity, Eastern is exercising the precau-
tionary measures in order to ensure that fans
are allowed at games for the remainder of the
academic year.
“As tough as this decision is for us to
make, it is the best possible route we are
going to take so that we can still allow fans
(at) games,” Director of Athletics Anji Weis-
senfluh said in a press release. “We want to
mitigate the spread of COVID, and this option
allows our fans to still come and watch the
student-athletes compete.”
Eastern’s spectator policy requires that all
fans in attendance wear masks during indoor
and outdoor events.
No outside food will be permitted inside
Quinn Coliseum, but fans will be allowed to
leave in between games to eat if they wish.
Fans are required to keep their tickets in order
to re-enter the stadium.
Back-to-back home men’s and women’s
basketball games against Oregon Tech on Jan.
21 and Southern Oregon on Jan. 22 will be the
first instances the new policy is put into place.
LA GRANDE — One of
La Grande High School’s top
athletes officially decided his
future in collegiate athletics.
Cole Jorgensen, a multi-
sport athlete at La Grande,
signed to continue his baseball
career with Western Oregon
University on his signing
day on Monday, Jan. 10. The
catcher has been an anchor
to the Tigers’ baseball team
throughout his high school
career and will look for con-
tinued success on a strong
Wolves team next year.
“Playing college baseball
has always been my dream,
ever since I was 9 years old and
started playing travel baseball,”
Jorgensen said. “I’ve always
really wanted to play at the next
level.”
In addition to his prowess
behind the plate, Jorgensen has
excelled in football and wres-
tling. Following a season in
which the La Grande football
team went 7-2 and made it to
the 4A quarterfinals, Jorgensen
was named 4A first-team all-
state at the defensive line posi-
tion and honorable mention 4A
all-state on the offensive line.
Jorgensen said that he has
enjoyed his time on the La
Grande football and wrestling
teams, but that focusing on his
true passion on the baseball
diamond has always been his
goal moving forward.
“Being able to just purely
focus on baseball all year round
is going to be really nice,” he
said.
Even splitting his time with
other sports, Jorgensen has
excelled on the diamond for
La Grande. Head coach Parker
McKinley stated that Jorgensen
stepped in as a freshman after
older players on the team were
injured and took on an imme-
diate role on the baseball team.
“He’s tough as nails,”
alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Cole Jorgensen catches a strike during a match between the La Grande
Legacy Legends and Hodgen Distribution at Optimist Field in La Grande on
Friday, July 23, 2021.
McKinley said of his starting
catcher. “Cole has gotten so big
and so strong and has really
started to mature into quite the
young man. He’s very phys-
ical and can handle the catcher
position well with that.”
During the 2021 spring
season in which La Grande
came just shy of a 4A state
championship, Jorgensen led
the Tigers with a .643 batting
average. In 67 plate appear-
ances, Jorgensen tallied 36
hits, three home runs, 10 runs
and a team-high 32 RBIs. In
11 games for the La Grande
Legacy Legends in the summer,
Jorgensen averaged .467 at the
plate and tallied 10 RBIs and
14 runs in just 38 plate appear-
ances. Defensively, Jorgensen
recorded a .991 fielding per-
centage on 109 attempts during
La Grande’s spring season and
was 1.000 on 62 attempts for
the La Grande Legacy Legends
this past summer.
Jorgensen remarked that his
time at La Grande has helped
him prepare for the next level
of competition. Beyond racking
up elite numbers at the plate,
he credits catching for strong
pitchers who have gone on to
play college baseball — such as
Riley Miller and Parker Rob-
inson — during his time at La
Grande.
“I’ve had great coaches at
La Grande ever since I was
little,” Jorgensen said. “I feel
pretty comfortable as a catcher.
I’ve caught for some pretty
good pitchers throughout the
years who have gone on to the
next level.”
Joining the pack
For Jorgensen, the initial
recruitment process to Western
Oregon quickly made the
Wolves his top choice.
“I went on a visit to
Western and met up with
their recruiting coordinator,
Coach (Trevor) Podratz, and I
really liked him. He took me
around the campus and I really
enjoyed the campus,” he said.
“He just seemed like a really
nice guy and he fit my person-
ality really well, so that seemed
like a great fit for me.”
Jorgensen is set to join a
Western Oregon team that
went 22-8 in 2021 and made
it to the NCAA Division II
West Regional final game. The
Wolves came up just shy of
a trip to the national champi-
onships. The program boasts
23 players drafted into the
MLB and 49 players who have
appeared for MLB teams or
their minor league affiliates.
“Obviously it would be a
dream to go to the next level,
so I think it’s really awesome
to know that guys have come
out of there and done that,” Jor-
gensen said of Western’s his-
tory crafting MLB players.
“It’s really exciting for me.”
Jorgensen shared a similar
sentiment, noting that he hopes
to represent the Tigers well and
raise interest in what the La
Grande program has to offer.
“I want to make us look
good and hopefully open some
doors for future players from
La Grande who might want
to go to Western,” he said. “I
want to show them how good
of a program we have here
and how hard we work, and
what our intent is every day in
practice.”
Starting from the bottom as
a freshman for Western, Jor-
gensen will rely on the same
work ethic that earned him a
starting spot as a freshman on
the La Grande team.
“I’m going to try my best to
earn my spot, work hard every
day and try to represent La
Grande baseball as best I can,”
he said.
One last run
Before Jorgensen takes his
talents to Monmouth, the senior
will be looking to lead a very
talented La Grande team this
spring. The Tigers, who return
a plethora of starters from last
year, came just one inning
away from a potential state title
last spring. With La Grande up
2-1 in the final inning, Hidden
Valley’s Issak Hill crushed a
grand slam to win the state title
game by a 5-2 margin.
“Hopefully it’s us again in
the championship and hope-
fully we can come out on top
this time,” Jorgensen said. “I
feel like we’re really really
solid. I feel like we should be
right back up there.”
Having already accom-
plished a major personal goal
in securing his spot on a colle-
giate roster, Jorgensen would
like one more accomplishment
under his belt before his time at
La Grande is up.
“I’m really motivated to win
a state championship with these
guys because I’ve been playing
with them since I was 9 years
old,” Jorgensen said. “I think
we all want it a lot and know
that we have the capabilities to
do so.”
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