Thursday, April 13, Corvallis, Ore. – Umpqua Community College right-handed pitcher Mike Freund has signed a 10-day contract with the Corvallis Knights for the upcoming West Coast League season, coach Brooke Knight announced Thursday.
He is a 5-foot-10, 195-pounder from Belgrade High School in Bozeman, Mont., who is a third-year sophomore this spring. He is 2-2, with a 1.42 ERA in eight games in 2023, with 44 strikeouts in 44.1 innings.
Freund was 3-1, 1.59 in nine games at Umpqua in 2022, with three saves and a 20-4 strikeout-walk ratio in nine games. He was a position player in 2021 and hit .234 in 31 games, with three homers and 15 RBIs.
His favorite movie is Transformers; his favorite TV show is The Last Dance and his favorite book is The Last Arrow. He is a Boston Red Sox fan who likes to lift, golf, and read in his free time.
He spent last summer as an assistant coach for the Bozeman Bucks American Legion team. He starred at shortstop for the Bucks from 2017-19 and helped lead them to second place in 2017 and the Montana state championship in 2019 before enrolling at Umpqua.
Corvallis opens the 2023 season on May 25 with the annual Science, Engineering & Art Day at Goss Stadium, presented by Paventy & Brown Orthodontics.
The Knights begin their quest for a seventh-straight WCL championship against the host Ridgefield Raptors on June 2. Their home opener is set for June 15 against the Bend Elks.