Ex-Knight Jace Fry of OSU and Future Knight Austin Hamilton of LBCC Look Back at Their Oregon All-Star Series Experience.

Both Freshmen Talk About Transition from High School to College Baseball

Two of the stars from the 2011 Reser's Oregon All-Star Series have both succeeded in their jumps to college baseball, albeit at different levels.

Pitcher Jace Fry of Southridge High School was named the Most Valuable Player and the North's Most Outstanding Pitcher after the 2011 series in Corvallis. He eschewed an offer from the Oakland Athletics to turn professional, enrolled at Oregon State and was one of the premier freshmen in the Pacific-12 Conference this past spring.

Shortstop Austin Hamilton of North Salem (pictured at last year's series), the South's Outstanding Player, enrolled at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany and flourished as a two-way player by becoming one of his team's top pitchers.

Both players have fond memories of the 2011 event, when the North swept the South 10-7, 6-4 and 4-0 in the first series to be staged at Oregon State's Goss Stadium.

"It was one of my favorite experiences as a player so far in my career," Hamilton said. "It was awesome."

Added Fry: "I would definitely recommend it. It was fun, I had a blast so I'd think anybody should do it," given the chance.

A fresh group of Oregon's top Class 6A/5A players convene for this year's series, again at Goss Stadium. They'll clash in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on June 16 and in a noon single game on June 17.

The series is run by the Corvallis Knights of the West Coast League, and co-sponsored by Nike Team Sports and Reser's Fine Foods.

Last year Fry won the opening game, threw four shutout innings overall, and added four hits to earn Outstanding Player honors.

"I had a lot of fun, I thought it was put together very well," said Fry, a left-hander who was drafted the week before playing in the series. "We got really nice gear and it was a welcoming feeling for all the kids to come to from different places and still be able to play together.

"I didn't know the big names from Southern Oregon, so I got to meet those kids. Seeing all the talent from Medford and other places was eye-opening, they had a lot of talent I didn't know about."

Hamilton had at least one hit in all three games, and four total hits.

"My favorite thing - and it's kind of weird - was feeling like I was being treated as a celebrity," Hamilton said. "They catered to everything; they were so awesome and so nice.

"It was an all-star series, and we were treated [like all-stars]. The whole crew was awesome. I had played against a lot of the guys but had never had the chance to meet them. We had a dinner after the Saturday game and met a bunch them, and that was a great experience as well."

Fry and Hamilton have progressed to different levels of competition but the intervening year has taught both players that college baseball is a huge step up the ladder from high school ball.

"Physically you can be the same person, but mentally you have to will yourself to do things differently," Fry explained. "You have to be independent, you have to get your stuff done and you have to be disciplined. You have to grow up.

"The biggest jump on the field is that I demand perfection," and that's impossible to achieve in the Pacific-12 Conference, one of the country's top leagues. "When you do fail you have to keep your confidence. A lot of kids lose their confidence at this level. The hardest thing is to keep your confidence, and to stay riding."

LBCC plays in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC), a wood-bat league with teams throughout Washington and Oregon. It's not the Pac-12, but NWAACC players regularly move on to four-year schools or professional teams after two seasons.

"It's a different game, the speed is different," there is far more strategy, more to know and the players are smarter, Hamilton said. "You're playing with guys who want to be at this level and want to try and keep moving up. The level of ball has gotten much better."

Unlike Fry, Hamilton garnered no professional interest and wasn't recruited by area Division III programs, much less Division I programs such as OSU, Portland or Oregon.

"I don't know if I had to approach them more, but (four-year schools) didn't seek me out very much after high school," Hamilton said. "[LBCC] is a good fit, I'm enjoying getting as much playing time as I am, and we've got a great group of guys here.

"I told coach I just wanted to help the team any way I could and if that meant (pitching) that's what I'd do. I'm enjoying it and just having a blast."