WOU

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Three members of the 2010 Western Oregon University baseball team are getting the opportunity to continue to pursue their dream of playing professional baseball.

Pitchers DJ Johnson, Jacob Pettit and Blake Keitzman are each in their first season of minor league baseball and all are thriving on the mound.

Pettit, a 6-2 lefty from Orting, Wash. (Orting High School), has started nine games for the Bluefield Orioles and has posted a 2.86 earned run average in 44 innings pitched. He has fanned 40 batters during that time and has not allowed more than two runs in eight of his nine starts. In the other game he surrendered just three runs. Pettit was taken in the 42nd round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Baltimore Orioles after he earned Great Northwest Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and was named to all three regional all-star teams.

Keitzman, a 6-0 lefty from Roseburg, Ore. (Roseburg High School), has compiled a 2-1 record and a 2.88 ERA for the Casper Ghosts. Keitzman has appeared in 13 games out of the bullpen this season and struck out 26 batters in 25 innings. Left handed batters are hitting just .239 off him and he put together a stretch of 7.1 innings during the season (five appearances) without yielding a run. Keitzman was picked in the 27th round following his senior season by the Colorado Rockies. He was the GNAC Pitcher of the Year as a junior and was named an All-American.

Johnson, a 6-4 righty from Beaverton, Ore. (Sunset High School), has been an integral part of the bullpen for the GCL Rays. He has registered a 2.65 ERA in 17 innings and put together an 11:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He yielded just two earned runs in his first 13.1 innings pitched this season. Johnson left Western Oregon after his junior season to sign a free agent contract with the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

The two draft picks and three players receiving minor league contracts are the most for Western Oregon since joining NCAA Division II.