Jacobs’ Gigeous chooses Oregon
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JOHN STARKS/jstarks@dailyherald.com Jacobs’ Henry Gigeous has committed to play baseball at the University of Oregon. |
Jacobs pitcher Henry Gigeous is set to join the quack attack.
Gigeous, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound right-hander who reached 90-92 mph on the radar gun last summer, gave his verbal commitment Monday night to play baseball for the University of Oregon Ducks.
The decision comes two weeks after he took an unofficial visit to the campus in Eugene, Ore.
“I felt comfortable with my decision and I just felt it was time to do it,” Gigeous said. “I felt that Oregon was the best place for me. I honestly don’t think there’s a better place to go play college baseball in the next three years. The coaching staff is going to treat me well. I feel I can become the best baseball player I can become at Oregon.”
Gigeous was first noticed by the Oregon coaching staff while pitching in the Area Code games in San Diego in August. “They were No. 1 from the start and everyone was kind of competing with them,” Gigeous said of Oregon, the school he chose instead of Alabama.
The Ducks are led by third-year coach George Horton, a two-time national coach of the year while at Cal-State Fullerton. Horton led the Titans to six appearances in the College World Series in 11 seasons and won the national title in 2004.
Horton became the head coach at Oregon in 2009, when the PAC-10 school reinstated its baseball program for the first time since it was discontinued in 1981.
The idea of being part of something new and different appealed to Gigeous, said Jacobs assistant coach John Sarna.
“Henry really wants to be part of something for the first time, to get to the College World Series and do something special,” Sarna said. “Oregon is a program that has never been there. He would love to go to Omaha with a program going there for the first time. He told me from Day 1 that was what he really wanted to do. It’s a great fit.”
Also a tight end for Jacobs’ playoff football team this fall, Gigeous was encouraged by the Oregon baseball staff to keep playing football for Golden Eagles coach Bill Mitz. “That was one of my criteria, to be able to play football next year,” he said. “They were on the same page. I’m just excited.”
Gigeous is the half brother of former Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, who died on April 10, 2009 after the automobile in which he was a passenger was struck by a hit-and-run drunken driver hours after Adenhart pitched six scoreless innings against Oakland.
