Revitalized Baseball Program Ready to Begin 2021 Campaign
By Paul Hall on Friday, February 12th, 2021 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Information provided by EOU’s Athletic team) For the first time in 14 years, 9 months and several days, Eastern Oregon University Baseball will finally step back onto the diamond for a series. The Mountaineers begin the 2021 season this week. Read below to learn about this year’s EOU Baseball team.
2021 Season Outlook
• The Mountaineers brought 38 athletes ahead of the 2021 season. Only 11 true freshmen make up the list of 38 with the remainder coming in as transfers.
• With the addition of EOU, the Cascade Collegiate Conference has six baseball teams. The Mounties will look to contest in what is an already stacked conference.
• The Pacific Northwest is a tricky place when it comes to weather regardless if it’s at home in La Grande or anywhere on the road in the CCC. With weather being a challenge, schedule changes will likely happen throughout the season.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCC has implemented a “NO spectator policy” for all conference events with the exception of cross-country and golf.
The Mike McInerney File
• Mike McInerney AKA Coach Mack was named the Head Baseball Coach in January of 2020. He joined the Mountaineers after serving the previous eight seasons at Western Oregon (2012-19).
• While at WOU, McInerney was the associate head coach and worked primarily with the pitchers. He helped guide the Wolves to a 153-58 record during his time in Monmouth. They also won the conference crown in five of his eight seasons at Western.
• Coach Mack played his college ball at Lassen Community College and Missouri Western State University. While at MSWU, he helped lead the program to its first regional appearance in school history in 2006.
EOU Baseball History at a Glance
• The last time EOU put a team out on the diamond was in 2006. Prior to the sport being dropped, EOU was part of the Cascade Collegiate Conference from 1993-2006, but the program’s history dates back to the early 1900’s.
• Mountaineers Baseball has 16 individuals in the EOU Athletics Hall of Fame and one team in the 1970 squad. Also in the in the EOU Athletics Hall of Fame is Howard Fetz, who coached at EOU for 20 years and was a big advocate in bring back baseball to EOU.
• Although EOU is still in the hunt for a CCC Title, the Mountaineers history of winning is there. They won titles in the then Timber Prairie Athletic Conference, Oregon Collegiate Conference, and Evergreen Conference.
• In the 2006 season, the Mounties had five All-CCC selections led by First Team selection Todd Shaffer at outfield. From 1994-2006, EOU had 20 total athletes earn First Team All-CCC honors and 51 total All-CCC selections.
• Brian O’Neal was the CCC Player of the Year for the Mountaineers in 1998 and was a first team selection that season as well. He helped lead EOU to a 17-17-1 overall record and a 17-13 mark in CCC play.
• The last All-American baseball player that EOU had was in 1991 when Michael Spencer was named a Consensus First Team All-American. He was also named the Timber Prairie Athletic Conference Player of the year after helping lead his team to a Conference Championship.
• The storied history of EOU Baseball runs deep. The support of alumni and the community at large has helped lead to the reinstatement of the program and the excitement of the it being played in 2021.
POSITION BREAKDOWN
Infield
• The Mountaineers have a total of 14 student-athletes listed at the infield position. Of the 14, 11 will suit up for the 2021 campaign in Adrian Roa, Brooks Dyer, Carsten Manderbach, Justin Frederick, Isaac Chamberlain, Matthew Bennett, Trevor Curl, Tristan Fergus, Payton Hamilton, Jamie Powell, and Garrett Beckman. Cooper Hewett, Kaden Walker, and Tyler Worwood are all expected to redshirt this season.
• Five of the infielders for the Mounties are true freshman in Frederick, Powell, Hewett, Walker, and Worwood. The experience that comes to EOU from the junior college ranks put them in a spot to compete well in the CCC.
• Six of the Mountaineers infielder hails from the state of Oregon including two local La Grande Products in Chamberlain and Frederick. Three come from the neighboring states of Idaho and Washington, respectively. The final two are from Nevada and Utah, respectively.
Pitching
• The biggest group for the Mounties is the pitching staff which consists of 16 athletes total, with 12 expected to suit up this spring. Those expected to appear on this mound in 2021 for EOU are as follows: Turner Edwards, Kyle Lund, Nick Jennings, Jacob Farnsworth, Jaydon Yancey, Jordan Rios, Cooper Roberts, Kolbe Bales, Summit Nell, Connor Crandall, and Stephen Wade. Expected to redshirt this season is Michael Bennett, Kyle Knudtson, Cooper Lund, and Parker Robinson.
• This group does bring a solid amount of experience as 10 of the 12 expected to suit come from the junior college ranks and has two seasons of pitching under their belts. For the group as a whole, just four pitchers come into the season as true freshman in Roberts, Crandall, Knudtson, and Robinson.
• Eight pitchers are in-state products for EOU. Just three are from the state of Washington and Idaho, respectively. One athlete is from Utah and the other is an international student from Canada.
Outfield
• The outfield group is one of the smallest with just nine players, with two of those athletes also being part of the pitching staff. The outfield consists of Blake Loftus, Kyle Lund, Jonathan Gonzalez, Easton Watterson, Kagen Kennedy, Michael Bennett, Austin Gerding, Miles Norman, and Adam Plant.
• Despite being a smaller group, the outfielders bring a wealth of collegiate experience as eight of the nine are transfers from either a junior college or four-year institute. Plant is the only true freshman on the group. He along with Norman, Gerding and Michael Bennett are expected to redshirt this season.
• Six of the nine outfielders come from Oregon. The final three all hail from different states with one of each coming Idaho, Nevada, and Washington.
Catchers
• Easily the smallest group for the Mounties is the catcher’s unit. There are just three listed on the roster and two are expected to redshirt the 2021 campaign. Elliott Marks, Brooks Wann, and Mason Wirth make up the trio with Marks being the one that will likely not redshirt.
• All three athletes come from different states. Wirth is the in-state product hailing from Tangent, Ore. Wann is from Montana, while Marks is from Washington. Marks is the only transfer of the group, while Wann and Wirth are true freshmen.
2021 Schedule
• The Mountaineers are slated to play 40 games total this season, which is made up into 10 series for the spring. Of that 10 four-game series for EOU, only two are marked as non-conference action.
• The non-conference slate of the schedule has Eastern Oregon up against in-state foe Western Oregon and fellow conference opponent College of Idaho. EOU plays C of I in three series this season, but the first bout will not count against conference records.
• As for the CCC portion of the schedule, the Mountaineers will play a four-game home and away series against four other conference opponents. The four opponents EOU will face are College of Idaho, Corban (Ore.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), and Oregon Tech. University of British Columbia opted out of the 2021 season due to border restrictions/closures.
• The first home series for the Mounties is scheduled to take place March 13-14 when they welcome the Corban Warriors to La Grande. Both days will feature double headers. First pitch for the home opener is schedule for 12 p.m. PT.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCC has implemented a “NO spectator policy” for all conference events with the exception of cross-country and golf.
