EUGENE, Ore.  – The Bushnell beach volleyball and baseball teams made huge strides in their second year as varsity programs.
 
The "sophomores" as it were, both had massive increases in their number of wins and their overall competitiveness.
 
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
 
One year ago, the Bushnell Beach volleyball team knew that had a strong roster heading into their debut season, and had the talent to compete on a national level. This was proved by an appearance receiving votes in the NAIA National Top-Ten Poll. The Beacons, however, were dealt a tough hand with a limited number of available opponents in their travel footprint.
 
This led to a regular-schedule that included matches exclusively against a trio of NCAA Division I programs, as well as a whopping ten meetings with Corban University, who went on to win the NAIA Beach Volleyball National Invitational. The team went 1-15 overall, claiming their only victory at the CalPac Championship tournament against No. 10-ranked Park University-Gilbert.
 
Fast forward to the spring of 2023, and things were looking much better with a wider swath of teams to compete against with the addition of programs at Southern Oregon University and Northwest University.
 
The Beacons won their season-opener against SOU and by their third dual they were 3-0, having tripled their win total from the previous season.
 
Bushnell went on to claim a 7-11 record and also picked up their first-ever win against an NCAA Division I opponent as they took down the University of Portland, 3-2 on March 11.
 
The Beacons were rewarded kindly for their efforts with a number of awards from the NAIA West Grouping's Pacific Northwest Coaches. Sophomore Logan Kaneshiro was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year while Laci Jespersen was awarded Co-Freshman of the Year honors. In addition, second-year coach Kim Elgarico was honored as a Co-Coach of the Year.
 
Kaneshiro and her playing partner Makenna Northern were honored with placement on the All-Star team while Jespersen and Neumann were named All-Star honorable mention.
 
BASEBALL
 
The debut season for Bushnell baseball wasn't quite as rough as it was for the Beacon Volleyball team, but it started out that way with the Beacons losing their first 11 games. They were able to put things together with an 11-26 record the rest of the way, and they would finish the season in fifth-place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
 
Season Two saw the team more than double their win total, going 23-25. The Beacons won six series, split two more, and even grabbed their first-ever win against a Top-25 team as they knocked off No. 16-ranked Lewis-Clark State 12-8 on April 28.
 
The Beacons saw plenty of year-over-year improvements outside of just the win column. After hitting .246 as a team in 2022, they improved to .278. A fielding percentage of .943 improved to .966 as went from 98 errors down to just 61. Most impressively, the team ERA dropped nearly two entire points, from 7.54 to 5.70 in just one year.

Top-Ten Stories of 2022-2023

#10 - Guillermo Torres-Sanchez Honored by Student Body
#9 - Corwin, Meadors Break Coaching Win Records
#8 - Muramoto, Hoffman Named NAIA National Players of the Week
#7 - Second-Year Programs Make Huge Strides
#6 - Record-Setting Year for Cross Country and Track
#5 - Stevie Schlabach Breaks NAIA-Era Scoring Record
#4 - Stubbs Wins CCC Championship
#3 - Beacons Honored for Academics
#2 - Beacons Shine Through Service and Missions
#1 - Sam Silver Wins NAIA Leroy Walker Award