Bennett Leads Ducks Into 2017 Season

For a month, at the beginning of the 2016 Oregon baseball season, the lineup card would be posted in the Ducks' dugout before each game, and Jake Bennett would quietly fume.

Outwardly, he stayed positive; as a first-year junior college transfer, the Forest Grove native was inconsistent his first few months on campus, and knew he hadn't earned a starting role by opening day. But the competitor in him -- completing the yin and yang of Bennett's dueling personalities -- fumed.

"Every time you see the lineup and you're not on it, you're mad," said Bennett, a two-time state champion wrestler and all-conference linebacker as well as a baseball standout at Forest Grove High. "At the same time it taught me, I have to be a good teammate and support the other guys. And, my shot's going to come; how am I going to make the most of it?"

Bennett's shot finally came about a month into last season, and did he ever make the most of it. The outfielder ended up leading the Ducks in hitting (.312) and on-base average (.419), striking out just 18 times in 138 at-bats while starting the final 39 games of the season.

Bennett's role entering the 2017 season, which kicks off for the Ducks on Friday at Fresno State, couldn't be any different than at this time a year ago. He's penciled in as Oregon's No. 3 hitter and, in the wake of an injury to junior Jakob Goldfarb, the Ducks' starting center fielder. Among position players, he's also probably the team's most respected leader, to boot.

"He's got a lot of weight on his shoulders," UO coach George Horton said. "Hopefully he doesn't look at it as, 'I've got to do everything.' But we're going to count on him to be a cog. … He's the kind of guy who makes everyone around him rise up."

With the broad shoulders of an ex-wrestler, Bennett looks more than capable of carrying a heavy load. That will include looking to provide some pop in the middle of the lineup for the Ducks – when it makes sense.

Bennett had just eight extra-base hits last season, all doubles. Oregon doesn't return much power outside of A.J. Balta's nine 2016 home runs, and the Ducks are content to manufacture runs in 2017. Bennett said he'll look to turn on pitches more often if he can as a senior, but only when the situation is right.

"Say it's 2-0, 3-1, I might try to drive a ball in the gap, and not settle for a pitch away," he said. "It's just about having a plan, based on the pitcher and my own skill set. But I'm not going to go and try to be something I'm not, for sure."

As UO associate head coach Jay Uhlman put it, "He's not (former UO slugger) Ryon Healy, and we won't ask him to be. We just need him to be Jake Bennett, as cliché as that sounds."

So, who is Jake Bennett? Redshirt freshman Braden Stutzman calls Bennett his best friend. The two got acquainted when both began 2016 on the bench, before their paths diverged when Bennett became a starter and Stutzman was held back as a redshirt.

"He's an awesome, happy-go-lucky guy," Stutzman said, before cautioning, "that's just the surface, though. Down low, he's a competitor. I think the state championships in wrestling show that. It's just incredible how he can be so happy and happy-go-lucky, and then when it gets down to it, he's ready to go, ready to compete."

Bennett has put both sides of his personality to use this offseason while establishing himself as a leader in the clubhouse. As he's become more vocal this offseason, he's tried to be a welcoming presence for the Ducks' newcomers, while employing a stern tone when necessary.

"It's got to be a balance," Bennett said. "If no one's having fun, then no one wants to be around you. I have a fiery personality on the field, but off the field I want to make jokes, have fun with the guys. Just have the balance of, we're here to have fan – but we're here to win ballgames. And everyone needs to know that."

Bennett is also looking forward to proving this season that he can capably play center field in Goldfarb's absence. Bennett played center in high school and junior college, but a year ago his outfield skills weren't held in high regard by some in the UO program; after a winter of hard work, "his first step, his decision-making are as good as you can have in center field at this point," Uhlman said.

As the 2017 campaign for Oregon baseball dawns Friday at Fresno State, the Ducks enjoy a lower profile on the national landscape than in some recent seasons. They're unranked, and nobody is mentioning "Oregon" and "Omaha" in the same sentence – inside or outside the program.

That, Bennett said, is just how the Ducks like it. By following Bennett's lead, Oregon may soon enough enjoy greater results than currently forecast – mirroring the way Bennett in 2016 outperformed his own opening-day role, by keeping his head down and his attitude up, and staying prepared for when his chance came.

"We had an idea he was going to be that kind of kid," Uhlman said. "He just had to bide his time and wait. When it wasn't going well (for the team), his mentality and his approach put him in a position to help. And he took it and ran with it."