The Oregonian on OSU's In-State Talent
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How small is the upper left corner of the United States, in college baseball terms? This small:
If you took Oregon State's typical starting lineup against a right-handed pitcher, and added up the populations of their hometowns according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2003 estimates, the total would be 637,686.
Clemson would hit that out of the park merely if it used pitcher Sean Clark -- of Los Angeles.
Clemson, in a town of the same name in South Carolina, seems to be the most aggressive recruiter among the eight teams gathered for the College World Series, which begins today at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Tigers' roster contains six South Carolinians along with players from Washington (two), the Bronx, Massachusetts and Texas.
But with the NCAA Division I scholarship limit at 11.75 grants, where teams go to get players sometimes is a matter of circumstances.
And Oregon State's success can be traced, at least in part, to some unusually favorable circumstances.
Sixty percent of the Beavers' roster grew up playing in the Oregon rain and by some grand coincidence wound up in Corvallis at the same approximate time of their lives.
College recruiting is so unpredictable that OSU coach Pat Casey has all but given up trying to explain how this team came together.
"Everything just lined up right," he often has said.
"You certainly can think that the more people you have to recruit, the more choices you have," Casey said Thursday. "But you look at this team, and most of them are Northwest kids, and they all have that in common. They're from Ontario, Portland and Ashland, and maybe that gives them something to prove."
The assembly of this team had some key moments in 2003. Pitchers Dallas Buck, Jonah Nickerson and Kevin Gunderson, who pitched together and against one another in the postseason of their senior years in high school, made a pact that if they didn't sign professional contracts, they all would go to OSU together.
Another key moment was when Buck decided that he wanted to play football, too, and Oregon State was willing to let him do both. Yet another came when then-football coach Dennis Erickson went to Great Falls, Mont., to scout a hotshot football player but called Casey and said he thought he might help him play baseball, too.
That was Tyler Graham.
It goes on and on. Cole Gillespie rarely heard from pro scouts when he was at West Linn High School, so he signed with OSU -- and stayed around, becoming the Pacific-10 Conference's player of the year.
Several other teams in this year's World Series field rely heavily on locally grown players.
The University of Miami is in the heart of Miami-Dade County, population 2.4 million, in a state of 17.8 million, and draws much of its roster from nearby ZIP codes. But the Hurricanes have players from Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. Even California. Even Hawaii.
Rice is in Houston, a city with a population of 2 million, in Texas, with a population of 22 million, and the Owls have eight Houston players on their roster. But even with a hefty private-school tuition bill of $23,300, they also have players from Colorado, Florida and California.
Even though Clemson has gone coast to coast to land players, Tigers coach Jack Leggett said he doesn't ignore homegrown talent.
"First, we start in state, in South Carolina, and we've been lucky there," he said, listing the names of several key players from within the state's borders. "But we do go nationwide in our recruiting. Kevin O'Sullivan, our recruiting coordinator, works harder than anyone can possibly recruit. He knows every kid in the country.
"There are times there has been 14, 15, 16 players from different states. That's a challenge to coach. When you have lots of kids from lots of places, it makes it all interesting -- in a good way."
But, as Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton said, it's often what coaches do with players that determines the success of the team as much as the recruiting turf.
"It's not just about recruiting, it's about our system," said Horton, who counts four out of five players on his roster from Southern California. "And I think we did that OK."
Casey agrees that it takes more than highly rated parts to have a World Series contender.
"Everybody can go out and recruit talent," he said. "But it's not just about having the best people. I've always thought it was about having the right people -- people that get along and play together and have chemistry.
"Last year, we had one of the best center fielders in the country, one of the best pitchers in the country and one of the best shortstops in the country. This year, we may have the best pitching staff in the country. So you do have to have talent. But if you have the right people, it's better."
