Griffen Rogers
Griffen Rogers’ (sophomore) hot start to the season has made an impact on the Occidental baseball team, earning him Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Pitcher of the Week and D3baseball.com’s Team of the Week honors. In the baseball team’s first series of the year against Centenary College (Louisiana) Feb. 6–7, Rogers made his first pitching appearance of his college career, closing out both games with two scoreless innings, striking out five and earning two saves. More recently, in a series win against Lewis and Clark Feb. 14–15, Rogers accumulated four strikeouts and earned his third save.
Despite this being Rogers’ first time taking the mound for Occidental, he said he had a calm mindset under pressure.
“I hadn’t pitched in a game since high school, but I tried to go out there and finish the game [with] a calm approach and have fun,” Rogers said. “Pitching with pressure [is] my favorite, being able to do that again is so much fun.”
Rogers hits, pitches and plays first base as well as right field. He said he likes the advantages that being a two-way player offers.
“I [flush out] what’s happened earlier in the game and [focus] on what I need to do next,” Rogers said. “I always tell my teammates being a two-way [player] is awesome because if you’re having a rough day at the plate or on the mound, you get the opportunity to make up for it on the other side of the ball.”
Right fielder Tyler Kubo (junior) said he can depend on Rogers to be calm in an intense environment.
“When I’m meeting up with him in the outfield during pitching changes and before games, he’s always cracking jokes,” Kubo said. “In times where I was nervous or too amped up, he was always a steady rock [that] anchored us down in the outfield.”
Kubo said Rogers’ range and speed in the outfield is shockingly impressive.
“A ball will get hit, and my first thought is, ‘That’s in the gap, no one’s gonna get there,’” Kubo said. “And then he comes out of nowhere, flies through and just lays out headfirst. It happens more times than you would think, but every time it gets me.”
According to head coach Luke Wetmore, Rogers’ dynamic ability is rooted in his experience with other sports.
“He’s very physically gifted, not just from a baseball standpoint, [but] from a physicality standpoint,” Wetmore said. “His background in skiing leads to physical strength in areas that not a lot of baseball players have. In terms of quick twitch, he’s got it. That can take you a long way in baseball.”
Wetmore said Rogers is excelling on the mound and is not surprised by his recent successes.
“He has outlier movement patterns on his fastball that make it hard to hit [and] has the ability to command the ball [inside] to a right-handed hitter, which not a lot of guys can do, especially from the left side,” Wetmore said. “It was rewarding to see [Griffen as SCIAC pitcher of the week] because he’s put in the work and earned the opportunity to be successful.”
The baseball team is now 4-2, with wins in both its opening series of the season. Starting pitcher Lincoln Lyons (sophomore) said the team has something to prove this year with how hard they have been working.
“We have high hopes,” Lyons said. “A lot of the guys, a lot of returners, know that we’ve put in the work. We didn’t have as good a year last year. [We have] a chip on [our] shoulder and it’s helped us build towards where we want to be.”
Jordan Lebsock
Jordan Lebsock (senior) made a diving catch against Stevens College Feb. 15. The softball team fell to Stevens in a 0-2 series their opening weekend, but Lebsock racked up three RBIs, hitting .385 while recording zero passed balls.
Lebsock said when she was making the catch it was all muscle memory kicking in.
“Once the ball went up, I just instinctively went for it and dove,” Lebsock said. “I knew [it] was a tight game and that we needed to make as many plays as we possibly could.”
Lebsock said she knows her presence matters the most to the team as a senior catcher.
“On defense, I know that my role is less about my performance and more about my presence on the field,” Lebsock said. “I care less about stats and making those guiding plays, [and] more about checking in with my pitchers, especially since our bullpen is primarily freshman this year.”
Second baseman Sophia Siu (senior) said Lebsock’s veteran presence is key to helping the team stay competitive in conference games.
“She’s very experienced — freshman year she played almost every single game,” Siu said. “She’s calling plays and knows what the team should look like and how we should play against [them].”
Molly Houtkooper (junior) said Lebsock’s reaction to her diving save proves how humble she is.
“[Lebsock] just put her hair back up, threw the ball away [and] got back behind the plate,” Houtkooper said. “She didn’t make it a big deal. In moments like that, there can be a lot of show-boating, but she was very humble.”
Houtkooper said Lebsock is hardworking and always looking to improve.
“[Lebsock] takes no days off — it’s really admirable,” Houtkooper said. “No matter what, she always shows up. She shows up to practice even when we don’t have practice.”
With only one series down, Houtkooper said the team is still figuring out their connection but is confident in the rest of their season.
“You can tell that we’re a little new, [and] even though we started with three tough losses, they were still quality games,” Houtkooper said. “We’re figuring out who we are as a team […] There are a lot of positives that have come out of the past few days of [the] season starting.”
Contact Liz Hermosillo at ehermosillo@oxy.edu
