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Local players helping OIT get its program off the ground By KRIS HENRY Nowhere is the wealth of Southern Oregon talent more evident than at Oregon Tech, where former South Medford High baseball coach Pete Whisler has turned to the players he knows best in his first year of rebuilding OIT's dormant program. Thirteen of the Fighting Owls' 22 players on their 2002 roster are from Southern Oregon, including eight from Klamath Falls, two from Glide and one each from Phoenix, Eagle Point and Lakeview. Some of that lineup was by design, some by necessity considering Whisler pulled double duty last season in guiding the Panthers while spearheading phone calls for Oregon Tech on the side. "It was a difficult transition in that way," says Whisler, whose team is 7-11 overall in its first season of play since 1990. "We probably could have gotten some other kids in if I had been positioned 100 percent of the time here (at OIT) instead of doing both." Still, Whisler is excited about the foundation being laid at OIT by the local players. Will SOU ever field a baseball program? The chances of Southern Oregon University fielding a baseball program are slim to none, and slim appears to have left town. While Oregon Tech coach Pete Whisler and Western Baptist coach Paul Gale each would welcome a Raider program, SOU Director of Athletics Phil Pifer says that day isn't on the horizon. "It's certainly not in the foreseeable future," says Pifer. "To be quite frank, a lot of it has to do with gender equity and Title IX and our strides to become compliant." SOU has added women's tennis, women's soccer and softball in recent years to reach an equitable state at the university. The addition of baseball would only place SOU in a financial pickle. "If we were to add a sport such as baseball with potentially 25 to 30 scholarship athletes," says Pifer, "we'd almost have to add at least two women's sports not to be falling backwards. I just don't think the funding is there to do all of that." Pifer says he has been approached by individuals willing to fund a baseball program, but obviously that's not his chief concern. "It's an unending spiral when you try to put it together," he says. "Funding baseball is not my problem, it's the gender equity issues and Title IX and making sure there is funding for that as well." Handcuffed by a budget that's not exactly overflowing with extras, Pifer still hopes for a day when the Raiders can take to the baseball diamond. "Believe me, if there was any way financially that I could make it work, I'd have baseball in a heartbeat," he says. "That would help us tremendously. We lose football players every year that want to be football and baseball players at our (NAIA) level. It's a good combination to have." Besides the aforementioned teams, SOU also fields teams in volleyball, track and field, cross country, men's and women's basketball and wrestling. - Kris Henry "We're playing better than I thought we would coming into the season," says Whisler. "What we're doing right now is getting decent pitching, putting the ball in play consistently and playing fairly decent defense." Entering Friday's game at Lewis & Clark, Oregon Tech has won four of its last five games and is 3-3 in Cascade Conference action, putting the Owls two games behind conference-leading Concordia (5-1). Whisler's team has made the most noise at the plate, where OIT leads the conference in team batting with a combined .312 average. Leading the way has been one of the rare outsiders in Hillsboro sophomore Kellen Stevens, who transferred from Clackamas Community College. Stevens leads the conference with a .453 batting average in 18 games. Also in the top 10 are Glide's Jacob DesBiens (.375), Winston's Caleb Robbins (.368), Mazama's Eric McDaniel (.355) and Lakeview's Cory Sedlacek (.343). Eagle Point's Ryan Garrett is hitting .242 in 10 games played as a backup catcher to Robbins. "Ryan's coming along and has gotten a lot better and stronger," says Whisler. "He's going to be a pretty good player for us over the next couple years." Kyle Kaufman of Phoenix has played sparingly this season, but he's another player Whisler believes will be a solid contributor before his playing days are over at OIT. And to hear Whisler talk, the days of Southern Oregon players finding a home at Oregon Tech are just beginning. "There are some Medford-area kids I'd like to have come in next year," he says. "You're not going to get them all, but you'd like to get some of them." Western Baptist coach Paul Gale, another fan of Southern Oregon ballplayers, is already anticipating a healthy battle for those same talents over this summer's recruiting period. "It's going to be tough," admits Gale. "Pete's in all those guys' ears, but I'm still glad they got that program back (at OIT)." Unless, of course, Whisler seals up Western Baptist's pipeline to the wealth of talent in Southern Oregon. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.