Oregon Alumni Game Question.

[OregonVato]

Anybody know who the alumni are that will be making an appearance?

[oregontrack]

anyone go?

[uosportsguy01]

Yes I got a chance to stop by and check it out. Some notes:

- Balta was at 1st. I heard Cuddy currently has a bad arm. We'll see how that plays out.
- Eureste at 2nd, Karaviotis at ss and Tolman at 3rd. Chase catching
- Outfield was a mixture of Packard, Craig-St. Louis and the freshman Breshears to start. I guess Catalano has a bad wrist and can't throw. Grebeck rotated in later.
-Saw interview with Horton discussing Heineman but from what I heard he's a PO and not likely he plays in field.
-I was impressed with freshman Peterson on mound. Doesn't throw as hard as Krook last year, but threw a lot of strikes and big imposing presence on mound
-Spencer Smith seemed to pinch run a lot, guess he has speed and will be looked to be used in pinch running situations
- Pitching looked solid. Paddon started and looked good, Nogosek was a little wild but did fine too. Karraker looks to have upped his velocity, Stiles has now dropped down and will be a situational guy. Harber, jc guy I saw throw on Thursday, and he looks to be long relief type of guy. Freshman Warren, walked 3 and struck out 3 in his inning of work. Big guy. JC guy Reta looked pretty good also. Barring injuries and assuming Irvin ready to go early in season, we should be fine on mound.
-Jordan Spencer no longer with team
-As for catchers, Chase started, followed by Graham, then freshmen Susnara and Heggen. Kruger backed up Balta at 1st.
-Grebecks hr was on the first pitch thrown by Tessar, so I wouldn't put much weight on that. About an 80 mph pitch lobbed down middle of plate and Grebeck just turned on it. It was batting practice.
-Roster is basically done as I heard they only have 36 in fall camp. Just need to cut one.

As to Alumni that actually played that I remember seeing:

Altobelli
Baumgartner
Boer
Thorpe
Tessar
Rodriguez
Peterson
Nichols
Hunter
Gold
Santos

Others also played, however it was hard to tell who was who if you didn't hear announcer say something about them.

Jack Marder looks to be the 1st base coach now. I heard Hambright took a position with Dixie State, but not positive.

[greenyellow]

A lot of names I don't recognize from recruiting websites or articles. Horton must have gotten some more signees that weren't reported or a bunch of walk-ons.

[UOducksTK1]

Thanks for hte notes^

[oregontrack]

indeed, thanks for the game report.

[uosportsguy01]

For a team that was above average last year in scoring runs nationally (led Pac in total runs scored and 2nd in runs scored per game behind only ASU), I think our offense will be much improved this year. The continued maturity of the returning players combined with the JC guys they brought in (Eureste, Craig-St. Louis, Cuddy) and I think the offense will actually be legit this year. Nice to have a group of lefty bats to run out there too: Tolman, Balta, Packard, Craig-St. Louis, Cuddy, Eureste could all be in starting lineup. Noticed also that numerous freshmen are lefties too (Susnara, Goldfarb, Breshears, Kasser, Bloomfield), so that looks to be a focus of coaching staff.

Also this team is MUCH deeper than the previous couple years, which I think will help in dealing with injuries. Obviously I don't really know who'll end up winning a starting spot, however I don't see much of a drop off between starters and bench guys (with a couple of exceptions).

As always, it'll come down to pitching (and health of pitchers). This is biased of me to say this I know, but if Oregon had a completely healthy Irvin and Krook, this is a legitimate top 5 team. I do fully expect Paddon and Nogosek to be much improved over last season and I think we have a group of middle inning guys to bridge to Cleavinger closing. Harber, Hostert, Reta, Warren, Karraker, Stiles will probably get the majority of those innings. A concern is they are all righties. We need Aukes, who's a lefty, to make it back. He had TJ surgery back in high school, redshirted all last year and I heard he's still rehabbing. He's really the only non starting lefty we have on roster. I think Peterson will be Sunday starter.

Pre season, time to be positive and think big I guess. From a Pac standpoint I really like our chances. Oregon State will reload, though they lost some huge pieces, everything aligned for Washington last year and they were hammered by draft and graduation, UCLA is due to bounce back though I'm skeptical of hitting. USC should be competitive and build off some momentum from last year. The Arizona schools? I don't know what to think. Smith now in at ASU and they'll either be really good or he'll clean out things and take a hit for a year while he gets things in place with his guys. Zona was just bad last year, could they bounce back? Sure, but I don't know enough to say at this point. Stanford is the one that I think is our biggest competition for league. I'm glad we're hosting them this year.

Hope we stay healthy this year, we do that and I don't think it's unrealistic to host regional.

[uosportsguy01]

For a team that was above average last year in scoring runs nationally (led Pac in total runs scored and 2nd in runs scored per game behind only ASU), I think our offense will be much improved this year. The continued maturity of the returning players combined with the JC guys they brought in (Eureste, Craig-St. Louis, Cuddy) and I think the offense will actually be legit this year. Nice to have a group of lefty bats to run out there too: Tolman, Balta, Packard, Craig-St. Louis, Cuddy, Eureste could all be in starting lineup. Noticed also that numerous freshmen are lefties too (Susnara, Goldfarb, Breshears, Kasser, Bloomfield), so that looks to be a focus of coaching staff.

Also this team is MUCH deeper than the previous couple years, which I think will help in dealing with injuries. Obviously I don't really know who'll end up winning a starting spot, however I don't see much of a drop off between starters and bench guys (with a couple of exceptions).

As always, it'll come down to pitching (and health of pitchers). This is biased of me to say this I know, but if Oregon had a completely healthy Irvin and Krook, this is a legitimate top 5 team. I do fully expect Paddon and Nogosek to be much improved over last season and I think we have a group of middle inning guys to bridge to Cleavinger closing. Harber, Hostert, Reta, Warren, Karraker, Stiles will probably get the majority of those innings. A concern is they are all righties. We need Aukes, who's a lefty, to make it back. He had TJ surgery back in high school, redshirted all last year and I heard he's still rehabbing. He's really the only non starting lefty we have on roster. I think Peterson will be Sunday starter.

Pre season, time to be positive and think big I guess. From a Pac standpoint I really like our chances. Oregon State will reload, though they lost some huge pieces, everything aligned for Washington last year and they were hammered by draft and graduation, UCLA is due to bounce back though I'm skeptical of hitting. USC should be competitive and build off some momentum from last year. The Arizona schools? I don't know what to think. Smith now in at ASU and they'll either be really good or he'll clean out things and take a hit for a year while he gets things in place with his guys. Zona was just bad last year, could they bounce back? Sure, but I don't know enough to say at this point. Stanford is the one that I think is our biggest competition for league. I'm glad we're hosting them this year.

Hope we stay healthy this year, we do that and I don't think it's unrealistic to host regional.

One other reason to be positive in regards to Pac 12 Conference, we host all the teams that will probably be in contention for league. UCLA, Stanford, Oregon State, ASU all come to PK (along with Washington). Gotta travel to Arizona and USC. Every little bit helps.