11A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017
ASTORIA FISHERMEN • SPRING SPORTS 2017
AHS boys golf — a young team in a tough district
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
A young team competing in
a strong district was not a good
mix for the Astoria boys golf
program last season.
Once again, the state cham-
pion came out of Special Dis-
trict 1. Following back-to-
back state titles for Seaside,
Crook County won last year’s
state championship, with
Scappoose fourth and Val-
ley Catholic fifth. The Indians
had actually won the Regional
title, a week before Crook
County won state.
The Fishermen, mean-
while, got lost in the shuffle,
placing ninth out of 10 teams
Senior Kirk
Fausett is
Astoria’s top
returner for the
boys golf team.
Daily Astorian
File Photo
in the Regional meet.
Astoria competed at dis-
tricts with one senior, two
juniors and three freshmen.
Some are back and some are
not for head coach Kevin
Goin.
“We’re seven deep, with 10
total” golfers, Goin said. “A
lot of those kids are equal in
talent, and that gives us some
options,” with the top returners
being senior Kirk Fausett and
sophomore Taylor Palmberg.
Fausett had Astoria’s top
score in last year’s Special Dis-
trict Regional, with Kyle Meis-
ner and Joe Scott in between
Fausett and Palmberg.
Rounding out Astoria’s top
seven this year will be Dylan
Altheide-Nielson and Trevor
Altheide-Nielson (who played
two years ago), sophomore
returner Conner Long, new-
comer Josh Olson and senior
Brian Wilder.
Others on the roster include
Sergei Davis, Tryton Matlock
and Marcus Soderstrom.
Team-wise, not much has
changed atop the Cowapa,
Goin said.
“Scappoose should be good
— they’ve got six tough kids,
and depth makes a lot of dif-
ference,” he said. “Then Val-
ley Catholic and Seaside third,
just given their past accom-
plishments. Then it’s Banks,
Tillamook and us all fighting
for fourth.”
Gasser: ‘Looking forward to one more shot’
ASTORIA
BASEBALL
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
hey’re loaded with talent,
T
stacked with seniors, and
the coach is ready for one more
go-round, as Astoria baseball
prepares for the 2017 season.
The goal: To win the Cow-
apa League. And in the Con-
ference of Champions, if you
do that, you’ve got an inside
track to a state title.
Astoria was 8-7 in league
play last year — certainly
not the best ever for the Fish-
ermen — but the Fish also
advanced all the way to the
4A semifinals.
To head coach Dave Gas-
ser, it’s pretty simple:
“Goal-wise, it’s a realistic
goal to win our league. And if
we win our league, we might
be home for a long time in
the playoffs. Any team that
wins our league is going to be
highly rated. Simple as that.”
For Gasser, the winningest
coach in Oregon high school
baseball history, the coach has
already announced that the
2017 season will be his last.
“Definitely. I made it offi-
cial the end of last summer.
I’m going to graduate with the
kids who were 7 and 8 when I
started. It’s good timing. Just
looking forward to one more
shot.”
Coach: Dave Gasser, 10th year
2016: 17-12 (8-7 league)
Playoffs: Won state playoff
games at North Bend (7-6) and
Cottage Grove (4-2); lost semifi-
nal at Henley (2-5).
All-State Losses: Carter Wal-
lace, OF
All-State Returners: Fridtjof
Fremstad, Sr.
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Entering his final season of a long and storied coaching career, Astoria’s Dave Gasser has the Fishermen pointing in
the right direction for a great spring.
THE COWAPA
In the recently completed
boys basketball season, four
of the final eight teams were
from the Cowapa League.
Baseball could be equally
strong.
The league was “one one-
run ballgame from three out
four teams being in the semis
last year,” Gasser said. “If
Valley Catholic wins, they’re
in the semifinals.
“Banks is the returning
league champion, and they
have a number of good play-
ers returning,” he said. “Val-
ley lost some kids, but they
have good athletes and are
well-coached; Scappoose is
always solid. I wouldn’t be
surprised if we had three top
10 teams.”
Goal No. 1 for the Fish-
ermen: avoid last year’s 1-3
start in league play.
THE FISHERMEN
Some of the key players
are still recovering from inju-
ries suffered in other sports.
The list includes Astoria’s
only all-state returner, senior
pitcher/shortstop
Fridtjof
Fremstad. Senior outfielder
Kyle Strange broke his leg
playing football, and senior
Jared Lucore did the same in
wrestling.
“Fritz is recovering from
a sprained ankle, and making
The Daily Astorian/File Photos
ABOVE: Astoria’s Fridtjof Fremstad is “one of the state’s
best shortstops,” according to Astoria coach Dave Gas-
ser. RIGHT: Astoria’s Ole Englund plays at second base
and is the No. 2 pitcher.
progress; and Kyle is about 85
percent,” Gasser said. “Over-
all, the kids are good.”
The final nine Astoria puts
on the field will be one of the
best at the 4A level. And the
talent level goes far past the
first nine.
“We’re probably two-
deep at every position,” Gas-
ser said. “The kids up front
should be fine. It should be as
good a team as we’ve had in
quite some time.”
Six-foot-4 Jackson Arns-
dorf, a hard-throwing senior,
will always be in the lineup,
either on the mound as the
No. 1 pitcher, or at first base.
Arnsdorf will play at the next
level with Corban College.
Senior Tyler Lyngstad is
currently on the inactive list,
working his way through a
torn patellar tendon, suffered
when he was trying to stretch
a double into a triple against
Gladstone. “We’re hoping
that it will be rectified, and we
can get him back soon,” Gas-
ser said.
Rounding out the infield,
the Fish have senior Ole
Englund at second base,
Fremstad at shortstop and
Trey Hageman at third.
Englund will serve as the
No. 2 pitcher, Fremstad as a
closer and potential starter,
and Hageman has already
seen action on the mound,
where Astoria will still have
one of the deepest pitching
staffs at the 4A level.
“Ole is 6-2 and has really
grown up,” Gasser said. “His
arm’s a lot better than it was
last year. He’s got a strong
arm, and he’s a four-year let-
terman with great poise.”
Fremstad is “one of the
state’s best shortstops. With
Fritz and Ole up the middle,
most any team in the state,
any classification, would
be happy with that. They’re
legitimately good players,
and their IQs are very high.”
In addition, Hageman “has
two years of varsity under his
belt. When we moved him
to third and Kyle Strange to
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center last year, we took off.
Trey has a very strong arm,
nice glove and handles the hot
stuff well.”
The Fishermen have more
players than spots in the out-
field, with Cade O’Brien (Sr.),
Samboy Tuimato (Sr.), Tristan
Wallace (So.) and Strange.
“Cade has started two
years, Samboy was close to
being a first-team all-leaguer
last year, hitting in the high
.300s … Tristan Wallace is
also in the mix,” Gasser said.
“He’s a left-handed hitter, a
better-than-average contact
guy who can bunt and run, and
very solid as an outfielder.”
Behind the plate is Jasyn
Gohl (Sr.), who “hit over
.300 last year, can run well,
he’s 6-2 and has a very good
home-to-second arm. He’s
going to throw people out.”
Finally, Astoria’s top three
or four pitchers could be No.
1 or 2 pitchers on pretty much
any team in the Cowapa.
“Ole did a lot of pitching
last summer and did real well
in the state tournament,” Gas-
ser said. “He was good. Ole’s
there, and when Fritz gets
healthy, we’ll be looking for
him to close.
“Fritz is around 6-0, 195;
Linky (Lyngstad) is 5-11,
195; Ole’s 6-2 … Arnsdorf,
Olaf and Fremstad are the
top three (until Lyngstad’s
possible return), with Trey
and Wallace,” he said. “And
a sixth coming up is Calvin
Kaul (also an outfielder/first
baseman). He’s going to be a
good one.
“Tristan is a solid left-
handed pitcher, decent fast-
ball, decent curve and very
good command. If we play
five games in a week, by the
fourth day we could throw
Trey and Tristan, and it
wouldn’t be a badly pitched
game.”
Adding depth to the lineup
will be Burke Matthews (So.),
Zach Patterson (Jr.) and Will
Reed (So.).
With the talent, depth,
experience and coaching …
the 2017 season could be a
special one for the Fishermen,
who are looking to get back to
the state title game for the first
time since 2011.
Of this year’s senior
group, “three of them started
as freshmen, and we lost in
the first round that year,” Gas-
ser said. “The next year as
sophomores they lost in the
quarters (at Hidden Valley),
12-10; and last year we lost in
the semi’s.
“So the kids have been
moving up with each year.
Realistically, if we play well,
we should be a very good
team. There’s no mystery to
that.”
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