COMING UP: at Bushnell (DH), Friday, 2 p.m.; at Bushnell, Saturday, 11 a.m.
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION: All three games at Bushnell will feature Live Stats through OIT's SIDEARM Stats Platform, with Live Video through Bushnell's YouTube Channel.
 
MULTIMEDIA: Photos from the 2025 season, including the Owls Media Day session, are posted online via the OIT Baseball Flickr Page, with highlight clips and videos from the season will be posted on the OIT Baseball YouTube Channel.
 
SCHEDULE CHANGES: Next week's 4-game series with Corban has been shifted to Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer due to the unplayable field conditions at Bocchi Field. The second series with Corban, set for April 18-19, will now be played in the Basin.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – BUSHNELL: OIT opens up Cascade Conference play with a 3-game road series at Bushnell. The Beacons (7-1) are off to a tremendous start, taking 3-of-4 from Simpson and sweeping a 4-game set with St. Martin's. The reigning CCC Tournament champs are averaging eight runs a game and hitting at a .303 clip, with the pitching staff posting a 3.88 ERA. The squad returns All-CCC outfielders Albert Jennings (.273 0 HR 2 RBI) and Jordan Wilson (.192 2 HR 6 RBI) – who combined for 26 homers in 2024, with catcher Nate Stevens (.438 0 HR 4 RBI) and infielders Chase Nye (.333 1 HR 4 RBI), Reece Carganill (.273 0 HR 3 RBI) and Cade Crist (.417 2 HR 9 RBI) key contributors. Returning starters Austin Wolfe (0-0 3.00 ERA) and Max Chapman (1-0 4.00 ERA) lead the pitching staff, with Garrett Vohs (1-0 0.00 ERA) fanning seven batters in three-plus innings. The two teams split a 4-game series lest season, with Tech holding a 13-7 series lead.
 
BEST STARTS: The Owls 7-2 record is the best 9-game mark in program history – ahead of the 6-3 starts in 2015 and 2022, along with the 5-4 starts in 2018 and 2023.
 
JONES POWER SURGE WINS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: A record-setting power display earned right fielder Julien Jones Cascade Conference Player of the Week honors, as the senior was 8-for-14 with two doubles and four home runs, driving in six runs in the sweep of Simpson. Jones hit all four homers in Saturday's doubleheader, including the first three home run game in program history, as 39 players have hit two homers in a contest. He enters the week hitting a team-best .500 and rides a 9-game hit streak, with his six home runs tops in the CCC and No. 5 in the NAIA.
 
BARRY SETS HIT STREAK MARK: The hits keep coming for shortstop Patrick Barry, who finished the weekend 5-for-13 with three RBI – extending his hitting streak to a school record 25 games. Barry surpassed the OIT record of 23 games set by Alex Poltz in 2018 – with his current streak the third-longest in Cascade Conference history (College of Idaho's Scott Skeen had a 27-game hit streak in 2001 and C of I's Dustin Garcia had a 28-game hit streak in 2003).
 
HORNER THE HOME RUN AND WALKS KING: All-America catcher Tyler Horner recorded the first two home run game of his OIT career in Game 2 of the series with Simpson – in the process, establishing the Owls all-time home run record. The senior tied the mark with his 30th long ball in the first inning, while hitting a 2-run shot in the fifth to break the record initially set by Mark Kane and Dalton Daily. Horner also broke Tech's all-time walks record, drawing the 88th free pass of his career, moving past Zack Earle's previous mark.
 
ORTIZ HAS BIG SERIES: The Owls continued to get big production from infielder Matthew Ortiz, who finished the trip 8-for-15 with a pair of doubles and four RBI – tying a school record with two sacrifice flies in the Game 2 win. The senior was 4-for-6 in the Game 3 win – his 27th 3-hit game and his seventh game with 4-or-more hits.
 
MORE WITH THE BATS: Transfer Michael O'Daniel earned the start in center field during the series, going a combined 5-for-11 with two RBI, scoring four runs and stealing three bases. In Game 2, redshirt freshmen J.D. Gunderson and Ryan McCabe logged their first collegiate hits – Gunderson hitting an RBI double and McCabe singling home a run.
 
TECH SETS HOMER RECORD: OIT set a new school record in Game 2 of their series with Simpson, hitting seven home runs in the 19-8 victory. The power surge surpassed the previous home run mark of five – set twice (at Patten in 2010, vs. Eastern Oregon in 2021. With the multi-homer games from Julien Jones and Tyler Horner, it was the second time two Owls hit multiple homers in a game (Cory Staniforth and Zack Earle at Patten in 2010).
 
SUPERLATIVES: Tech heads into the weekend with a .344 team batting average, recording 10-or-more hits in 7-of-9 games and posting 3-or-more extra base hits in each contest. The Owls had 11 stolen bases in the series, improving to 35-of-39 in steal attempts. OIT made two errors at Simpson, with the team fielding percentage at a league-best .980.
 
STRONG STARTS: The Owls received three solid starts in Redding, as Tim Williams, Landon Cheney and Carson Glavich each earned wins. Williams worked into the sixth inning of Game 1, allowing just three runs on five hits, striking out four, with Cheney striking out a career-high six batters in four innings, working around three runs and four hits. Glavich rebounded from a tough opening start, scattering three hits and a run in four innings, striking out three.
 
BULLPEN KEY: Tech got three extended relief appearances; all key to the Owls series sweep. Caleb Randolph tossed two shutout innings in Game 1, striking out two, with Brian McClelland working in long relief in Game 3, throwing three and two-thirds innings, allowing just two hits and striking out a career-high six batters. Noah Loew capped the weekend with three shutout innings in the series finale, striking out five, to earn a save.
 
CRONIN CLOSES IT OUT: The Owls turned to senior Riley Cronin to shut the door in Games 1 and 3 at Simpson, as the right-hander picked up saves in both victories. Cronin stranded the tying runs on base in the series opener, while working a 1-2-3 ninth in Game 3 with a pair of strikeouts – moving to No. 2 all-time in OIT history with nine saves.
 
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Sweeps were the story last week, as C of I swept a 4-game series vs. Embry-Riddle, Bushnell swept St. Martin's and Tech swept Simpson, while Eastern dropped 2-of-3 at Whitworth. This week, LC State is at C of I, Warner Pacific is at Corban, EOU is at UBC, with Tech meeting Bushnell.
 
PRESEASON POLL: The Owls were picked third by the Cascade Conference coaches in the 2025 CCC Preseason Poll, released in October. Defending regular-season champ, Lewis-Clark State claimed seven first-place votes, followed by British Columbia, OIT and tournament champ, Bushnell. Both LC State (No. 7) and UBC (No. 24) were ranked in the preseason NAIA Top-25.
 
CHANGES IN THE CASCADE CONFERENCE: The league added an eighth team during the offseason, as Warner Pacific will offer baseball for the first time since 1990. The league will play a 37-game schedule – three 3-game series to start (creating an unbalanced schedule), followed by a 4-game round-robin schedule against all opponents. The Top-5 teams in the final standings will earn bids to the CCC Championships, to be played at the regular-season champion.
 
RECORD BOOK: Currently, 10 players rank among the Top-25 in the OIT career record book. Matthew Ortiz holds the record for sacrifice flies (19), ranking No. 2 in stolen bases (53), No. 4 in RBI (135) and runs scored (138), No. 5 in hits (228), No. 6 in at bats (665), No. 8 in doubles (40), No. 9 in triples (7) and games started (162), No. 11 in walks (65), No. 14 in sacrifice hits (8) and No. 16 in games played (162), with Tyler Horner No. 1 in home runs (31) and walks (88), No. 2 in RBI (156) and doubles (52), No. 4 in hits (229) and hit by pitches (30), No. 7 in at bats (645) and games started (167), No. 9 in triples (7) and games played (168), ranking No. 16 in runs (100). Ka'ala Tam is No. 3 in stolen bases (49), No. 9 in sacrifice flies (7), No. 10 in hit by pitches (23), No. 11 in home runs (14), No. 13 in runs scored (103), No. 17 in games played (144) and RBI (86), No. 21 in at bats (435), triples (5), walks (51) and sacrifice hits (7), No. 23 in games started (116) and No. 25 in hits (123); Julien Jones is No. 3 in hit by pitches (36), No. 4 in sacrifice flies (9), No. 7 in home runs (19) and stolen bases (34), No. 9 in triples (7), No. 12 in RBI (101), No. 17 in doubles (29), No. 19 in runs scored (95), No. 23 in hits (134), ranking just outside the Top-25 in at bats (369) and walks (41). Korrey Siracusa holds the mark for hit by pitches (42), ranking No. 18 in walks (54) and No. 21 in runs scored (91); Riley Cronin is No. 2 in saves (9); Tim Williams is No. 5 in saves (5); Dane Bradshaw is No. 19 in stolen bases (24), Bronson Chapple is No. 20 in wins (9), with Patrick Barry No. 23 in stolen bases (21).
 
NEXT WEEK: Tech continues their 24-game road trip to open the season with a 4-game series at Corban.