Beavers get chance to swing bats again

CORVALLIS — After pretty much destroying the field at last month's College World Series, Oregon State's baseball team found something else to demolish on Monday morning.

A handful of the Beavers, with bats in hand, began knocking down a house to make way for a new home for a deserving family on the television program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

A group from OSU's national championship team — head coach Pat Casey, pitchers Eddie Kunz and Blake Keitzman, infielders Lonnie Lechelt and Brett Casey, outfielders Scott Santschi and Braden Wells, catcher Erik Ammon, injured catcher Casey Priseman and manager Peter Hughes — spent much of the morning at the job site in Lewisburg, just north of Corvallis. The players eventually got to blow off a little steam by clubbing walls, windows and fixtures for the cameras.

Shortly thereafter, a pair of backhoes began the heavy demolition of the home that formerly housed Rob and Rachel Byers and their family. Their 8-year-old daughter, Jenessa, has a form of childhood cancer and is fighting a recurrence.

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