| Nate Yeskie |
|
|
4th Year
Pitchers
UNLV, `03
Former professional pitcher Nate Yeskie is in his fourth season as an assistant coach at Oregon State and guides the team's pitching staff.
The Oregon State staff finished the season with a team ERA of 3.14 in 2011, which is the lowest since 2005 and the second-lowest since 1979.
Yeskie's staff included Sam Gaviglio, who won 12 games and was named an All-American and at one point was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, as well as Tony Bryant, who saved 12 games. Josh Osich threw the program's first complete-game no-hitter since 1947 when the Beavers defeated UCLA, 2-0, on April 30.
In just three seasons at Oregon State, he has seen his pitchers earn a total of nine all-league honors and three All-American and Freshman All-American nominations.
In 2010, his second year at OSU, Yeskie oversaw a staff that helped guide the club to the Gainesville Regional and at the end of the year, had six pitchers selected in the first nine rounds of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, the most ever in Beavers' history.
The team ranked in the top 50 nationally in earned run average, hits allowed per nine innings, strikeouts per nine innings and least number of walks per nine innings.
In 2009, his first year at OSU, the Beavers' staff played a big part in the team advancing to the Fort Worth Regional. The club sported an ERA of 3.93, good for eighth in the nation while the team was sixth in hits per nine innings.
A number of individual pitchers had fine seasons, including Sam Gaviglio, who set a team freshman record with 10 victories.
Yeskie has impacted the Oregon State staff by bringing an organized and professional approach to the game, utilizing tools and techniques from stops in Minor League baseball and the collegiate game.
Yeskie served as the pitching coach at his alma mater, UNLV, from 2005 to 2007. During his tenure with the Runnin' Rebels, Yeskie mentored eight players who earned either an All-Conference or All-Tournament Team selection. In 2005, Yeskie's staff helped enable UNLV to win the Mountain West Conference regular season, the MWC Tournament and earn a berth to the Tempe Regional.
Eight UNLV pitchers who were tutored by Yeskie in his three seasons were been selected by Major League Baseball clubs, while another signed as an undrafted free agent.
Prior to returning to UNLV as a coach, Yeskie spent five seasons in the Minnesota Twins Minor League system, reaching as high as Double-A New Britain. He finished with a 27-24 record and 4.91 earned run average over the five seasons. Yeskie went 11-7 with Fort Wayne of the Midwest League in 1997, recording 111 strikeouts in 165 1/3 innings of work. In 2000, his last season, the La Crosse, Wis., native went 4-1 in 21 appearances.
In the 1999 offseason, Yeskie played for the Grand Canyon Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, a league often reserved for the top professional prospects.
During his time in professional baseball, Yeskie worked with former Detroit Tigers pitching coach and current Kansas City Minor League Pitching Coordinator Rick Knapp as well as MLB veterans Bert Blyleven, Mel Stottlemyre, Jr., and former pitching coach Billy Connors, who once held the position of Director of Player Personnel with the New York Yankees.
Yeskie came to the Twins organization after being drafted in the ninth round of the 1996 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Minnesota selected the right-hander after he finished his UNLV career with a 22-12 mark, including 16 complete games.
In 1994, 1995 and 1996, Yeskie was invited to five Team USA Olympic Trial appearances. He was also rated as the sixth-best MLB Draft prospect entering his junior year at UNLV.
A three-year letterwinner, his 147 strikeouts in 1995 still stand as UNLV's single-season record. The mark was also fifth-best nationally that season, and coupled with his nine complete games - which led the Big West Conference - earned him First-Team All-Big West and First-Team All-Region honors.
Yeskie was drafted in the sixth round of the 1993 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers after a stellar high school career at Carson High, one that saw him set a number of school records. En route to earning first-team All-America honors in 1993, he finished with a 12-0 record and a school record for strikeouts in a season (158) and strikeouts in a game (20).
Yeskie is married to the former Brittney Belshe. The couple resides in Corvallis.
Pitching Honors Under Yeskie
All-Pac-10
2009: Sam Gaviglio (HM), Kevin Rhoderick (HM), Tyler Waldron (HM)
2010: Matt Boyd (HM), Greg Peavey (HM), Kevin Rhoderick (HM)
2011: Sam Gaviglio, Tony Bryant, Josh Osich (HM)
All-America
2009: Sam Gaviglio (Freshman)
2010: Matt Boyd (Freshman)
2011: Sam Gaviglio
| 
