CORVALLIS — On the surface, there aren’t too many similarities between Oregon and Nebraska with fairly significant differences in terms of people, landscapes, climate and culture. Both regions of the country, however, love their athletics and that includes baseball.
A couple of pitchers from last year’s Nebraska baseball team, Chase Olson and J’Shawn Unger, have been competing for the Corvallis Knights this summer. Not only do they have their Husker backgrounds in common but they’re also staying with host families in Philomath.
Olson is one of three players staying with Wade and Lori Haslam.
“It’s top tier, best of the best, like everything we could possibly need, they take care of it,” he said. “It’s made this whole trip and journey a lot easier than it honestly could be. It’s a blast to be able to stay with them.”
Unger had nothing but good things to say about his host family, Charlie and Marcia Gilson.
“When my family came down during the Fourth of July, we saw some whales and the West Coast,” said Unger, who is from Blair, Nebraska, a town of around 8,000 located 30 miles northwest of Omaha. “They helped us out a lot with finding things to do and stuff. Overall, they’ve been absolutely phenomenal. You couldn’t ask for a better host family.”
Olson also spent some time experiencing the coast when his girlfriend came out to visit and the Haslams helped with showcasing the region. “I don’t think we would have done that without their guidance,” he said.
As a couple of players in Nebraska’s program, they know each other well. Unger has since transferred and Olson redshirted last season.
“There’s a ton of camaraderie, honestly, I’d say he’s definitely one of my best friends,” Olson said. “It’s cool to experience this with him. We both haven’t been out here, so we’re experiencing a new part of the country and it’s a new type of baseball.”
Nebraska’s coaches notified Unger and Olson last fall that they would be sent to the Knights to work on their skills.
“They told me and Chase, ‘hey, you’re going to Oregon’ … we really didn’t have too much say in it,” Unger recalled. “We were like, ‘it sounds pretty fun’ because both of us hadn’t been to Oregon and we thought it would be a good experience to go to the West Coast and play some baseball.”
Olson was excited to head west.
“It’s our first year playing summer ball so being able to do it together and have some familiarity with him is really cool,” he said. “The competition here is exactly how I expected. It’s really good and it challenges me every day.”
Unger’s primary goal this summer with the Knights was to just get more innings — and that’s exactly what happened. In fact, he quickly reached his 30-inning limit for the summer.
“I got a call maybe a week ago saying that I was already at 30 innings and I was like, ‘Oh, man, really?’ And I asked him for maybe one more start,” Unger said. “They said that was OK but I was a little bummed because I was having a blast out here playing with the guys.”
So, his final start was last weekend and in four innings, he allowed two hits and no runs with seven strikeouts. Beyond the limit on innings, he was shut down and had to head back to the Midwest
While in Corvallis, Unger worked mostly on getting down his third pitch — the changeup.
“I thought Coach (Beau) Kerns, our pitching coach here, helped me a lot with that by just giving me some clues and mechanical things I could work on,” Unger said. “And you know, I think we finally got it down a little bit” before moving on to practicing the cutter.
Unger finished with a 4-0 record and 2.59 earned run average in 34-2/3 innings with 31 strikeouts and 13 walks. He made an appearance in the league’s all-star game.
“I got it done with the great defense behind me and we’ve got some really good catchers behind the plate,” Unger said. “It makes it easy when you’ve got a great defense and great coaching staff to help you out.”
Olson said there is a lot of talent in the West Coast League and sees competition that is in the neighborhood of what he saw in Division I baseball. Some of his teammates play at other schools in the Big Ten and there is also the Oregon State presence, a team that reached the College World Series and played the Huskers during the regular season.
“I got a lot of experience just learning from other guys and seeing how the game is supposed to be played at the level,” Olson said, referring to his redshirt with Nebraska. “Even though I didn’t play, I’m seeing it pay off here to help me kind of smooth out some areas where I needed it. It’s a really good challenge, a really good experience, to just come out here and compete every day.”
Through Thursday, Olson has appeared in 10 games with four starts and 25-1/3 innings pitched. His earned run average is sitting at 3.19 and he has 24 strikeouts against nine walks.
Unger appeared in just one game this past season at Nebraska and opted to enter the transfer portal to consider other opportunities.
“I was more looking for the JUCO route — I just think I need more innings,” Unger said. “I wasn’t quite ready for Division I baseball and so I thought JUCO would be the best fit for me.”
A few weeks ago, he decided to transfer to Iowa Western Community College, a championship-level program in Council Bluffs. Coincidentally, Oregon State’s AJ Singer transferred to the Beavers from Iowa Western.
“They’re really good at developing players and getting them exposed to more DI schools and even MLB teams,” Unger said. “I’m excited to get there.”
Iowa Western has a fall season and spring season so it won’t be long until he’s back on the mound.
Unger said his favorite part of the summer with the Knights has been their walk-off wins.
“We’ve had two or three walk-offs and it’s pretty funny because one of them was a walk-off walk,” Unger said. “Those are good memories to have just running out there with your guys after a walk-off hit and you’re all chanting … Those are probably the best memories.”
Olson said his favorite moment so far this summer occurred in a game on the road against the Marion Berries, a team based in Salem.
“I had 3.2 innings of shutout ball and so that was really good to kind of get that under my belt with my family there,” said Olson, whose hometown is Raymore, Missouri, a city just southeast of Kansas City.
Olson appears to be in it for the long haul with the Knights.
“I’ll head back to Lincoln right after the season gets over,” Olson said. “Hopefully, we win the championship and then I’ll head there, get some fall work in and get ready for the season in the spring.”
The number of seats filled at Goss Stadium for Knights games have been noticeable.
“I think the fan base here is great — I mean, 1,300 people every night for a home game and that was probably the minimum so it’s great to see that the Knights have a good fan base,” Unger said. “They are really well-supported in Corvallis.”
It’s something that Olson has also noticed.
“It means a lot to have support from the home crowd,” Olson said. “It makes the games a lot easier and you know, you can feel that when you’re on the mound. I enjoy the baseball around here.”
Both players were asked if there was anything they wanted to say to their host families in Philomath.
“Accepting a couple of guys from Nebraska, I think it’s a great thing and they’ve been absolutely awesome,” Unger said. “They’ve done a lot, too — they give me a bed to sleep on and with the food and stuff, I really appreciate them for that.”
“Thank you for taking care of us,” Olson said. “It’s a blessing to be able to be in this situation in this environment. They’ve made the transition so much easier than it honestly could be. So I’m just thankful for them.”
