OSU Assistant Honored, July 5

Nate Yeskie, who led Oregon State to the national lead in several pitching categories, has been named the Assistant Coach of the Year for 2017 by D1Baseball.com, it was announced on Monday. Yeskie, who completed his ninth season as the Beavers’ pitching coach this past season, guided the staff to a program-record 1.93 earned run average, which was nearly one run better than No. 2 Illinois-Chicago’s mark of 2.65. The staff also finished with a national-best 6.27 hits allowed per nine innings, a 0.98 WHIP (walks plus hits per nine innings) and 14 shutouts. OSU had the fewest runs allowed at 141, the fewest earned runs at 121 and the team’s 2.59 walks per nine ranked seventh. The Beavers also held opponents to a Pac-12 Conference low .196 batting average and set the program’s single-season record with 506 strikeouts. Additionally, Oregon State gave up the fewest sacrifice flies (11) in the conference, and the second-fewest wild pitches at 27. It is the second time during his nine-year tenure that Yeskie has been honored as the nation’s top assistant. In 2013, after Oregon State finished with a then-school record 2.28 ERA, he was named the top pitching coach by Collegiate Baseball. A native of La Crosse, Wis., he joined head coach Pat Casey’s staff in 2009 after three seasons as the pitching coach at his alma mater, UNLV. In nine seasons with the Beavers, he has mentored nine All-Americans, nine Freshman All-Americans and 16 pitchers who have been taken in the top nine rounds of the draft.