Carson High baseball alum under consideration for Oregon State job

Nate Yeskie is a leading candidate to become the next Oregon State baseball head coach. And he has a fan club. Of former players.

Oregon State is in the process of finding a new coach for its baseball program after longtime head coach Pat Casey announced last week he wouldn’t return to take over at the helm of the Beavers. Casey stepped down after leading the Beavers to the 2018 national championship, but had the option to return after the 2019 season. But he declined to return.

Pat Bailey, another longtime assistant coach for the Beavers, was the interim head coach for Oregon State in 2019. Bailey is also a candidate for the head coaching job along with Yeskie, a 1993 Carson High graduate.

Yeskie has been the Beavers pitching coach for the past 11 seasons and was named as the Assistant Coach of the Year by DIBaseball.com and as the Pitching Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball in 2017.

Several former Beaver players have expressed their support for Yeskie among them Cadyn Grenier, the shortstop for the 2018 National Championship team, who’s now playing in the Baltimore Orioles organization.

Grenier tweeted last week: “Yo @Beaver AD you’re out of your mind if you think @OSU Coach Yeskie can’t take over the HC spot. There’s absolutely no reason to look anywhere else because you’re not going to find anyone better.” Grenier was referring to Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes.

Trevor Larnach, another player on the 2018 National Champion Team playing in the Minnesota Twins organization, tweeted: “I don’t really tweet at all but this needs to be addressed. There is no one more deserving and better fit for the head coaching job than @OSUCoachYeskie.”

Another former Beaver in the Twins organization, Caleb Hamilton tweeted “It shouldn’t even be a question.”

Michael Gretler, the third baseman for the National Championship team now in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, followed up the other tweets by tweeting “Couldn’t have said it any better” in support of Yeskie.

Both Bailey and Yeskie have expressed interest in the position. Barnes stumbled, though, early in the process, stating Bailey had expressed interest in the position but Yeskie had not. The day after Barnes made that statement, Yeskie reportedly met with Barnes to say he was indeed interested in the job.

Last week Barnes said he hoped to hire a new coach “within the next couple of weeks if possible.”

Another possible candidate for the job is UC Santa Barbara coach Andrew Checketts, who pitched for the Beavers. Checketts is also one of two leading candidates to fill the vacant baseball job at USC along with Grand Canyon coach Andy Stankiewicz.