Cliff Kirkpatrick

Oregon State football players have their final week of option summer workouts coming up. Then it’s a brief break before training camp.

I ran into a few of them last week, and they all say the training has been going well. They always say that, but I saw some of the workouts strength coach Bryan Miller was doing with them and it was intense.

“We’ve been working hard this summer,” WR Casey Kjos said. “Our conditioning and strength has gone up. They pushed us this summer to take us to the highest level, yet.”

“We’ve been doing a lot lifting and running and a lot of football (passing drills) at nights to keep our timing down with the offense,” TE Howard Croom said. “The DBs have been doing their drills and then we go one-on-one. We’ve worked against each other. It has been a good environment of getting better.”

Offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh used a special motivational tool one afternoon last week. He swung by before the workouts in Reser Stadium when the linemen were there.

He drove around the field in his car saying they weren’t going to be good because Andy Levitre and Adam Speer are gone, and then left for them to think about that. The guys then worked hard, so we’ll soon see if that approach gets them going.

Cavanaugh may come across as having a tough exterior, but he’s a really funny, nice guy.

QB Sean Canfield was supposed to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Corvallis Knights game Saturday night. But he won’t be doing it. The Knights scrambled for an OSU athlete Friday night to fill in, and I think they found a gymnast.

Many of the football players will be in attendance with the incoming athletes of the BEST Program there. There will be an opportunity for autographs, I’ve heard, since it’s OSU Night.

If you go, you’ll see some pretty good baseball. If you are not from the area you may not follow the Knights. They are dominating the West Coast League and are ranked the No. 3 collegiate team in the country by Perfect Game Crosschecker.

Read about Friday night’s game here. It was an exciting finish in the bottom of the ninth.

“It’s really a lot of pride,” C Rocky Gale said of why the Knights keep playing well. “We take pride in what we are doing, and with the preparation of the game. We just want to get better each day, and we haven’t peaked, yet.”

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Corvallis Knights coverage Saturday begins with their annual free youth clinic. The reason for my attendance is because my son Hunter, 7.5, participated.

This was the first time it was done in Goss Stadium, instead of going to a high school field. Team president Dan Segel said the feedback from the community was that it would be nice to do the clinic in Goss.

Nearly 200 children from Linn and Benton Counties participated, which was a good turnout. There was some concern that it could get too big, but it was at about the right number.

“It was a lot of fun,” Knights infielder Richie Jimenez said. “The kids were running around and having fun.”

The goal is to foster community relations, and it’s a good idea. It wasn’t an intense learning workout in three-plus hours, but a way for children to have fun on a special field.

An experience like this keeps them interested in the game for years to come. Plus a pack of Big League Chew (the best tasting gum in the world) was a good reward.

“It was all fun,” Hunter said. “There was nothing bad.”

Most of the clinic involved hitting with plastic bats. There was some soft toss with metal bats, fielding and attempts at rundown procedure.

My favorite stations were the dugout games to kill time in case of a rain delay. That’s Northwest baseball for you. I’ve worked a few of these camps/clinics in Southern California and that’s never part of the schedule.

“Actually, that was the best part of the day,” Hunter said. “You throw the ball at the steps for points. And I won.”

For your regularly scheduled Knights coverage of their Saturday night victory over Lake Moses, read about in Sunday’s GT here. It will was interesting to see if these guys are worn out from dealing with the children all afternoon.

“We talked about that before the game,” Jimenez said. “We just always have to play hard. You never know when it’s your last game.”

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Friday night was my debut covering the local summer collegiate wood bat league team, the Knights. I’ve attended a few games last summer just as a spectator.

In their junior year in Corvallis, the Knights are still a quality evening of entertainment for the value of $5 general admission seats. And it’s not like there’s a bad seat in Goss Stadium.

The Knights follow the minor league baseball concept of trying to make it a family entertainment event, not just a baseball game. That way dad can bring the wife and kids without them being totally bored. So the ZOOperstars were at the game this evening.

Basically, they are big-headed inflated characters of well-known people. They do goofy things such as eat people, dance and punch each other. As silly as it sounds, it amuses the children.

My son Hunter, 7.5, was with me, and he was laughing hysterically between innings. We caught them last year and he was interested in seeing them again.

“They are funny,” Hunter said. “They kick each other and fall over. They keep hitting each other.” Of course that’s why he likes them. It’s like watching The Three Stooges.

And what about the baseball team?

“I like the team,” Hunter said. “I like their mascot with the big head. It’s a good mascot, not something like a frog.”

There you have it, from the mouth of babes. Cartoonish fights and tough looking mascots are key.

As for the baseball stuff, the highlight was Knights 2B Josh Hogan pulled off the hidden ball trick in the third inning. I’ve never seen that work.

After a meeting on the mound the pitcher or catcher, I didn’t notice which one, gave Hogan the ball and he went back to his position. As the runner on second got a lead, Hogan rushed over to tag him out.

You see that once every three-plus decades. So for that the game was worth the experience.

As for notes, OF John Desmarais stretched his hitting streak to six games. … DH Brent Warren has a five-game hitting streak going. … OF Pat Colwell said the shadows early in the game gave the hitters problems, which is why the offense came on late. … Check out the game story in Saturday’s GT here, which talks a lot about the three-hit shutout by P Matt Andriese. … Game 2 of the series is 6:35 p.m. Saturday.

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