The boys of summer, coached by former major-league pitcher
Retired professional baseball pitcher Shawn Chacón teaches some young prospects during the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association Legends for Youth baseball clinic at Royal Athletic Park on Thursday. Chacón, 40, last played with the Houston Astros in 2008 and is known for his sinker, a big curveball, a slider and a changeup.
You know this one felt good on so many levels.
The Victoria HarbourCats finally solved the puzzle that is the Corvallis Knights. All thanks to a Corvallis hero from another team.
Ryan Ober, a true freshman who won the 2018 NCAA College World Series this spring with the Corvallis-based Oregon State Beavers, launched two home runs for Victoria on Thursday to show his ample future promise. The first was a solo shot and the second counted for three runs on a four-for-five night by Ober as the HarbourCats defeated the Knights 11-5 in West Coast League action at Royal Athletic Park.
“That was awesome. It was a great feeling. Summer ball is more free swinging than in college,” said Ober.
“It’s good to keep the defending [WCL] champions [Knights] humble.”
Ober is expected to step into the Oregon State starting infield lineup next season.
“I was playing behind essentially three first-round [MLB] draft picks this season,” he said.
The result snapped a six-game Corvallis winning streak against Victoria stretching back to last year's best-ofthree WCL playoff final, a series the Knights rallied to win 2-1 after dropping the first game. The Knights swept Victoria 3-0 in their first meeting this season in Oregon and won the first game of this current set 3-2 on Wednesday at RAP. The set concludes with the rubber match tonight.
Victoria is 5-6 in the second half of the season and 19-19 overall in the North Division. The annual powerhouse and five-time WCL-champion Knights, named for the wife of Nike co-founder Phil Knight and main team sponsor Penny Knight, are 6-3 in the second half and 22-14 overall in the South Division.
DIAMOND DUST: The day began, meanwhile, with HarbourCats head coach Brian McRae and assistant coach and former Montreal Expos infielder Todd Haney — along with James Lofton and 2003 all-star pitcher Shawn Chacon of the Colorado Rockies — conducting a free MLB Players Alumni Association clinic for Island youth players on Thursday.
McRae, Haney, Lofton and Chacon combined for 1,732 games in a total of 24 MLB seasons.
McRae will join Roberto Alomar, Lloyd Moseby, Jesse Barfield, Ricky Romero and J.P. Arencibia in the sold-out Toronto Blue Jays Academy Honda Super Camp on Tuesday and Wednesday at Serauxmen Stadium in Nanaimo.
“It’s a good change of pace for us coaches, too, to take a step back and see eager kids having fun without worrying about wins-losses and stats,” McRae said.