"Baseball team may conclude regular season without Roach" -- May 5, 2006

By C. Jennings Breakey
The Western Front

Western’s rival the University of Oregon Ducks bowed in respect of a death close to the Vikings before the teams battled through a four-game series last weekend at Civic Stadium in Eugene, Ore.

Viking sophomore right fielder Kevin Roach’s sister, Kristen, died last week of a brain aneurysm.

Ducks’ head coach Bradley Ficek gathered his team on the field with the Vikings before the first game started. University of Oregon junior pitcher Jonathan Jwayad then walked toward the bleachers and addressed more than 100 people in attendance.

“A player from Western’s team, Kevin Roach, has had a loss in his family and we would like to take a moment of silence for his family,” the player said.

When the moment concluded Ficek handed a card signed by the Ducks to Western head coach Michael Johnson, who sent it to the Roach family in Bainbridge, Wash.

“It was good to see everybody have that understanding of the importance of life,” Johnson said. “I felt a friendship with their coach.”

Roach told the Vikings to play hard and compete with the Ducks over the weekend. Western responded to Roach’s request with a four-game split with the University of Oregon as both teams clinched spots in the Northern Pacific Regional Tournament, which is comprised of four teams.

Johnson said he didn’t set a timetable for Roach’s return to the team.

The Vikings came away with an 11-4 record while the Ducks remained atop the Pacific Mountain Conference at 12-3. Western heads to regionals as the number four seed and will face the Weber State University Wildcats while the University of Oregon enters as the number three seed and will play the University of Montana Grizzlies.

Western senior left fielder Mikel Lenox said the Vikings’ rivalry with the Ducks is heated but both clubs acknowledge that baseball is just a game — a low priority on life’s scale.

“(The rivalry) is only between the lines,” he said. “Outside of that things do matter more.”

Lenox, who’s hitting .368 with 14 stolen bases this season, said pitching and shaky defense characterized the Vikings’ weekend.

Western sophomore pitcher Adam Bloom pitched four and two-thirds scoreless innings in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader before the Ducks scored five unearned runs on a Viking error in the fifth inning.

The teams stayed tied at five until the eleventh inning, when Western senior center fielder Matt Rhode hit a blooper over the pitching mound that scored senior third baseman Andrew Irvine from third.

Western sophomore pitcher Alex Arima, freshman Brain Sims and senior Ryan Kauffman combined for six and one-third scoreless innings in relief.

After dropping the second game of the doubleheader Western rebounded with a complete game, two-hit performance by Kauffman on Sunday. The right-hander improved to 6-0 this season with a 1.54 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 41 innings.

Western concludes its regular season this weekend against Evergreen State University in Olympia. The regional tournament’s location hasn’t been determined, but will take place May 12-14 at either Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore., or Volcanoes Stadium in Salem, Ore.

The Vikings hoped to take three of four games against the Ducks, but the team is satisfied with the weekend’s outcome and is preparing for regionals, Johnson said.

Two years ago Western came within three outs from advancing to the World Series but the Ducks squashed the Vikings’ hopes with a seventh inning comeback. Last year the Ducks beat Western again in a winner-to-World Series game.

Johnson said the Vikings’ young teams lacked experience the past two years, which accounted for both mental and physical errors in the final games of the previous regional tournaments.

“We tend to beat ourselves in that final and decisive game,” he said. “We have to take the memories and pain of the previous years and turn it into positive energy this year.”