Benny Westcott
Sweet Home High School senior Russell Holly on Tuesday, June 7, signed a letter of intent to play baseball for Linn-Benton Community College, the latest Husky to suit up at that level since Justin Tow (Class of 2016) competed for Corban University.
Holly, who won Sweet Home’s Pitcher of the Year and MVP awards his junior and senior seasons, will man the mound for the Roadrunners, looking to continue an already impressive career that included First Team All-League and Third Team All-State honors his junior year and Second Team All-League honors this past season.
LBCC competes in the Northwest Athletic Conference as defending champions, having finished with a 38-12-1 record this spring en route to the Roadrunners’ first title since 1991 (it boasts three all-time).
Holly, who’s known he wanted to play college baseball since first taking the field in the second grade, said the moment “feels great. It feels like a dream.” He chose Linn-Benton because “They have what I want to study (heavy diesel mechanics) and their baseball program is really good.”
He didn’t seriously consider other schools. “The L-B coach (Andy Peterson) and I had been talking the most, and that’s what really helped me,” he said.
“It’s a very special moment,” Sweet Home head coach John Best said at the ceremony. “Whenever we get somebody to sign at the collegiate level, that’s a pretty special thing.”
“It’s really cool when we have kids sign at a college, wherever that is,” athletic director Dan Tow said, mentioning LBCC baseball’s “close ties” to Oregon State University’s club. “That’s really cool too.”
“I was awfully proud of Russ this year, and awfully proud of him his entire baseball career and his career at Sweet Home High School,” Best said. “He has been an outstanding student athlete, both in and out of the classroom, on the field, whether he was hooping or playing football. (Holly participated in the other two sports, as well.) Nobody deserves it more. He definitely worked for it.”
Best thinks the Roadrunner program can serve as a springboard to other playing opportunities for Holly, as it had for him. After two years pitching at LBCC himself, Best played his junior season at Western Oregon University in 2004 before transferring to Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota. He returned to WOU to finish his bachelor’s degree in health education and sports science and earned his master’s in 2009.
“I went on to universities, and I know (Holly’s) going to do something similar,” the coach said.
Best also served as LBCC’s head pitching coach for two seasons, so he knows the program first-hand. “It’s great,” he said. “It’s local. We’re going to get to watch him play a little bit. I am so excited to see what (Holly) does his next four years of college baseball.”
At Sweet Home, Holly’s first varsity season as a sophomore did not go as planned, as the team had only a few practices before COVID-19 pandemic restrictions canceled the season that spring. In a shortened season his junior year, he helmed the mound in eight games and posted impressive numbers, helping the Huskies finish with a 7-8 record, accumulating a 1.235 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 39 and two-thirds innings.
“He commanded the mound from Day One of his junior year, and developed into a leader from Day One,” Best recalled. “He just really stepped into it, and with work ethic and practice kept getting better and better.”
This past season, Holly pitched 42 innings with a 4.33 ERA and 54 strikeouts, as the Huskies went 5-17.
Best described what makes Holly effective.
“He competes,” he said. “He throws two pitches for a strike (fastball and curveball) and he can command the zone. When he’s on, he does a really good job. He can throw strikes when he needs to and split the plate. He can throw inside and outside. He can throw a ball when he wants to throw a ball. Not a lot of guys can do that. When you’ve got two pitches – fastball and curveball – that you can throw wherever you want, that gives you the opportunity to get big outs.”
And, Best thinks, his game will improve.
“I think he’s going to really grow with collegiate pitching coaches and working on nothing but baseball year-round,” he said. “I think that’s going to be great for him. As a college guy, I think he’s really going to start to develop his off-speed pitch. Hopefully, his changeup gets a little bit better, and then his curveball. Right now, in high school, he got away with throwing fastballs for strikes and getting ahead.”
Although he’s never seen Holly clocked on a radar gun, Best believes the young hurler’s fastball touches the low 80s.
“In high school, you could throw an 82 mph fastball by somebody,” he said. “But now at the upper levels, he’s going to have to develop that off-speed, because guys catch up to that pretty easily.”
In addition to that improved pitch, Best suspects Holly will add an even faster fastball to his arsenal.
“I think he can project to be close to 90 mph by his junior or senior year,” he said. “If he takes care of his body and does the nutrition and weightlifting that the college teams are doing now, I think he can put himself into that range where he’s in the upper 80s/low 90s as a junior and senior.”
Best credited Holly’s work ethic for getting him to this point.
“Whenever we had morning pitching practices he would always show up,” he said. “Those types of attributes really go a long way in developing a player.”
He thinks Linn-Benton is a good fit.
“I think with him being able to command the plate and throw in and out, he’ll do just fine,” he said. “I really think he’s going to succeed there.”
Although Best thinks Holly will solely pitch for the Roadrunners – “It’s pretty rare to be a hitter and a pitcher in the NWAC,” he said – the recruit also did considerable damage with a bat for the Huskies. As a senior, he was named Sweet Home’s Offensive Player of the Year and was recognized as a First Team All-League Infielder and an Honorable Mention All-State Infielder.
Now, as he transitions to pitching at the next level, Holly’s thoughts on the matter are clear.
“My goals are to throw as best as I can every time I’m on the bump,” he said, “and compete my butt off.”