Seven OSU Recruits played in the '24 U/C Area Code Games in Long Beach

The Prestigious upper-class Area Code Games concluded last week at Long Beach's Blair Field. The nine participating teams competed over 5 days with each team playing 5 games. Oregon State had seven recruits playing, six with the Pacific Northwest's Kansas City Royals sponsored team and one with the Four Corners Cincinnati Reds team. The 240 players playing in the games are selected by Professional Scouts throughout the USA. Here is a brief recap of how the Beaver recruits performed.

3B Xavier Neyens - Mt. Vernon, WA, HS: Neyens had a sparkling week defensively at 3B, making several super plays while easily handling the routine stuff. Xavier is one of the country's top HR threats and doesn't see many good pitches. He was 1-11 at the plate while drawing a tournament high 7 BB. His OBP for the week was .444. He scored 4 runs, had 2 RBI, was 1/2 on SBA and K'd 6 times. He was selected to the All Tournament team for the second year in a row having played up last year following his Sophomore year. In the '23 games, he was 5-8 with 5 BB and 2 XBH. He pitched in '23 but not in '24.

SS/RHP Mason Pike - Puyallup, WA. HS: Playing SS, Mason was 1-10 at bat, drew 2 BB, scored a run, had a double, was 1/1 on SBA and K'd 6 times. Mason pitched 1 inning, allowed 1 run, walked 2 and K'd 2. His fastball was lasered at 96 mph and 2,677 rpm.

C Mark Wiepert - Wilsonville, OR. HS: Mark was 1- 6 with 2BB, 1 RBI, and 3K's. Defensively he flashed some notable skills catching and throwing including a 1.87 POP time.

RHP River Hamilton - Gresham, OR.- Barlow HS: River started against the Reds, pitched 3 innings, allowed 3 runs on 4 hits with 1 BB and 1 K. The KC Royals won 10-5.

.LHP Calvin Gregory - Lake Oswego, OR. - Lakeridge HS: Calvin pitched 2 innings, allowed 4 runs on 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked 1.

RHP Justin Fuller - LaCenter, WA. HS: Justin pitched 3 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits with a K and a BB.

3B Kameron Beck - South Jordan, UT.- Bingham HS: The Utah slugger played with the Cincinnati Reds and was 1-10 with 1 BB, 1 RBI and 5 K's. He was solid defensively and at the plate, had some hard hit balls end up as outs.

The Royals were 2-2-1 on the week, the Reds were 1-3-1.

The Dog Days of Summer are upon us. The season was completed, the Regionals and CWS are in the books and the summer Collegiate Leagues have finished their competition. Beaver Nation will now migrate their support to the football and basketball teams.

It has been an eventful year for OSU Baseball. The unfortunate ending of the PAC-12 Conference has thrust Beaver Baseball into a new and challenging sphere of playing independently, while navigating copious NCAA rule changes regarding transfers, NIL and scholarships.

I plan on a little hiatus while I try to fully digest all of it.

See ya'll in Surprise!

GO BEAVS!