The New Face of Benson Baseball

“True story, I’ll pick you guys over everyone any day.”  Those were the words that came into the team’s mind when remembering ex-Benson head baseball coach Jackson Gillett.  “That’s what he told us almost every day” explains player Nick Preciso “and then he leaves us to go to Liberty High School”.  Towards the end of Benson’s summer baseball season, the news came that the team would be getting a new head coach next regular season.  Gillett got the position as head baseball and football coach at Liberty High School, and lured player favorite assistant varsity coach Desmond Boots to go with him.  It was undetermined who the new head coach would be.

Head JV coach Adam Cohen stayed and was the front runner for the new position, but was not guaranteed it.  The team was restlessly waiting to find out who would be coaching them next year and the news finally came.  On Friday, November 5th, players got texts from the coaches that the new head coach was chosen.  Brian O’Leary was named the new leader and face of Benson Baseball.  Brian O’Leary grew up in Portland and attended Jesuit High School.  He lettered in baseball for three years. As a utility player and then graduated in 1995.  He was an assistant at Lincoln last year serving under two Benson graduates.  The Lincoln team took first place in 6A PIL for the first time in 54 years.  This will be his third year of coaching and is excited to experience it with Benson Baseball.

This year Benson is moving down to PIL 5A along with Wilson and Franklin which hopefully means the teams won’t get thrashed like they sometimes did by the bigger 6A schools.  Franklin is in the same situation as Benson; for they’re getting a new head coach also replacing Robbie Trebelhorn.  It is unknown why Wilson is moving down since they easily made the playoffs last year and dominated the PIL 6A in other sports.

Since baseball is becoming known as a slow, boring sport, O’Leary wants the team to play fast and aggressive.  The team is expected to hustle on and off the field not wasting any time.  The game may look slow, but really there is a lot going on.  It just looks like they’re just standing out there doing nothing because that is time to pay attention and concentrate.  Every player is always thinking on what he is going to do if the ball is hit to him because you can never know where it will be hit next.

“A Benson baseball player is here first, to be a student, second, to be a person of character, and third, to be the best ballplayer he can be. I expect to have the best students, the most character, and the hardest-working ballplayers in the city and the state. We will go a long way as a program when we stick to these priorities” O’Leary explains on what he wants Benson Baseball to be all about.

Benson Baseball isn’t only about winning.  There are many different aspects of the program.  The first priority is to become a good student.  You can’t make it on the field if you can’t make it in the classrooms.  This is the most important thing when it comes to any high school sport.  Second is to be a person with good character.  It’s all about representing Benson the best we can and it won’t happen if we don’t respect other people or they don’t respect us.  Finally, there is being a good player.  Ironically this is the least important of the three.  Everyone wants to win, but that’s not the top priority.  Even if the team has a losing season, the experience gained is far more important than winning.

-Connor  Buckley

Benson's Field of Dreams

There are many people wondering why the field is being torn up and being worked on.  Since mid-September it has been nothing but a huge pile of dirt.  Work is constantly being done when it’s not raining.  It is obviously staying a field; it will just become a field of better quality.  Instead of grass, which gets muddy when it rains, it will now be made of turf.

Turf is artificial grass which drains faster and can be used in any type of weather.  It is softer than regular grass making it better for the players.  There is a lot less upkeep needed to be done on it compared to real grass.  It doesn’t have to be mowed or watered; just swept clean of debris.

This is a $1.8 million dollar project that is going to benefit St. Mary’s, PCU (Portland City United Soccer Club), and Benson High School.  It will consist of two soccer fields, one which will have football lines on it.  The football field will also have lines for the baseball and softball fields that will be incorporated in as well.

PCU has paid for over half of the project with St. Mary’s fundraising $450,000 of it and the rest being paid by the City of Portland.  Since Benson is right next to Buckman Field, part of the agreement was to let the school use it during the day and for their sports teams.

PCU will mostly use the field in the winter and summer with St. Mary’s and Benson using it mostly during fall and spring.

"We've already worked out a schedule in terms of practice times and games, so I'm feeling like we're OK with it," Benson athletic director Bruce Alton said.

St. Mary’s is currently using Delta Park, Willamette Park and Portland State's Stott Field.  They use them for soccer and lacrosse.  Benson’s home football field is the turf field at Cleveland High School, so it won’t be a huge change when moved to Benson.  Right now they are practicing at Overlook Park, which is not made for football.  It is the same for soccer, who use Buckman Elementary and Tubman Elementary for practice and Delta Park for their home games.  Benson Baseball will be appreciative of the new lights going in so the team can practice outside longer and be able to finish their games that are continuing after the sun goes down.

As a result of this project, the freshmen are getting robbed of experiencing the full Benson P.E. Program.  They are not able to go outside to do various activities such as football, golf, or being able to run on the track.  Even with the weather being cold and rainy most of the time, it is still fun to be able to experience P.E. outside instead of being stuck inside the whole time.

Everyone is excited for the field to be finished.  Practices for various teams are coming soon or have already started.  It is proposed to be finished by mid-January and be ready to use.  With this field being made, in the PIL we will be the second, behind Cleveland HS to have a home turf field.  On the other hand, we will be the first to have a home turf baseball and softball field.

It was discovered last year that this project would happen; now that the time is near for it to be finally finished, excitement is running high.

-Connor Buckley