2023 Albany-Corvallis Beavers Claim First 40+ Division Title in Willamette Valley Men’s Baseball League

Willamette Valley Men’s Baseball League, 40+ Division

Albany-Corvallis Beavers 10, Salem Yankees 6

In a rematch of the 2022 finals, the Albany-Corvallis (AlbaCor) Beavers defeated the defending champion Salem Yankees 10-6 in the Willamette Valley Men’s Baseball League 40-over title game, with Anthony Castro going the distance in his first start of the season.

For the Beavers, the win over the Yankees was their second in three weeks; AlbaCor took an 8-6 victory in the regular-season finale after having been 10-runned in every previous meeting with the Yankees, who moved up to the 40-over division in 2022.  The championship is the first 40-over title for the Beavers, who were 30-over champions in the early 2000s.

AlbaCor, 12-4 on the year, closed the season on a five-game winning streak, including a come-from-behind 14-12 playoff win over the multi-time league champion Salem Dirtbags. The Beavers took three of four from the Dirtbags this year and have won four of the last five meetings overall.

In this season’s title game, AlbaCor fell behind 1-0 before scoring the next 10 runs. Castro made the lead stand up by stranding 17 Yankee baserunners, aided by some spectacular defense including an inning-ending, full-extension catch in short right field by second baseman Eric Beasley with two runners aboard.

For the season Beasley was one of 10 Beavers to bat better than .300 and one of eight to drive in more than 10 runs. John Hicks (.517) and Castro (.500) led the team in average, and Castro’s 22 RBIs paced the Beavers. Daniel Campbell was the leader in extra-base hits with seven.  Mike Jefferis stole a club-high 16 bases, and as a team, AlbaCor swiped 76 bags while being caught just six times.

Garrett Vogler started the team’s first 15 games on the mound, going 5-3 with a pair of complete games while pitching 86 2/3 innings.  The season was the 30th in MSBL for two Beavers, Kip Carlson and Steve Lundeberg, who had their 60th birthdays a week apart on game nights in August, with the Beavers winning both contests!