Baseball title pays dividends.

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

OSU RECRUITING

CORVALLIS - Oregon State baseball coach Pat Casey said on Wednesday the Beavers are reaping the benefits of a national championship, signing nine players - including six pitchers - to national letters of intent.

"We are competing for athletes with the best programs in the country," said Casey, whose Beavers won the NCAA title last June at Omaha, Neb., "and now we can roll out that national trophy."

Two of the players signed by Casey are from Eugene's Sheldon High School - outfielder Brandon Hayes and right-handed pitcher Chris Vitus.

"Chris has a big arm, a lot of raw arm strength, and Brandon is a player with a natural swing, a good offensive kid," said Casey, who has led OSU to back-to-back College World Series.

The OSU men's basketball, women's basketball, softball and gymnastics coaches also were smiling on the first day of the weeklong early signing period.

Jay John, the OSU men's basketball coach, announced the signing of three players - 6-foot-2 guard Calvin Haynes, 6-10 forward/center Ilija Milutinovic and 6-7 forward Omari Johnson.

Haynes was signed last year by OSU, but academic issues stalled his arrival. He averaged nearly 22 points, 6 1/2 rebounds and 3 1/2 assists as a senior at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Calif., before enrolling at South Kent (Conn.) Prep School this year.

"We could use him now," John said. "He can be a dominant player offensively and defensively, and that kind of player has been rare for us, to have someone with a combination of strength and athletic ability at the two-guard spot."

Another signee currently at a prep school - Worcester (Mass.) Academy - is Milutnovic, who is from Belgrade, Serbia.

"Ilija and Calvin would be helping us now if there were here," said John, whose opens its season against Portland on Friday in the Oregon Rain Invitational at Gill Coliseum.

"But last year's and this year's classes are the two best since we've been here," he said.

Second-year women's basketball coach LaVonda Wagner signed five players, including Minnesota transfer Brittney Davis, a 5-7 guard from Portland's Jefferson High School who spent the last two years with the Gophers.

Two-time Alaska player of the year Talisa Rhea, a 6-1 guard, leads the four high school players set to join the Beavers for the 2007-08 season. The others include 6-4 forward Alex Mitchell, 6-3 forward Brittany Eskridge and Kassandra McCalister, a 5-9 guard.

Rhea is considered by some scouting services as one of the top guards in the nation after averaging 18 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals as a junior last season.

Mitchell averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds last year; McCalister 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists; and Eskridge 10 points and 9 1/2 rebounds.

"This is a good class," Wagner said. "We got what we needed. We got better, addressed our size issue, shooting issue and ball handling issue."

Oregon State softball coach Kirk Walker announced the signing of four players, including first baseman Erin Guzy of Beaverton, pitcher Karmen Holladay of Corvallis, catcher Audrey Roderfeld of Vista, Calif., and outfielder McKenna Lowe of Tustin, Calif., sister of OSU player Paige Lowe and Arizona star Caitlin Lowe.

One gymnast, 2006 Junior Olympic all-around champion Jen Kesler, of Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, Wash., was signed by OSU coach Tanya Chaplin.