Medford Rogues view 13th season as ‘huge learning experience’

Published 7:07 am Thursday, July 31, 2025

Collegiate wood-bat summer franchise enjoyed fast nonleague start before fading under heat of late Pacific Empire League play

As much as anything, Medford Rogues manager Kevin Olmstead exited his first season at the helm with optimism toward the future, and a hint of realization that the value this summer was mostly in personal and team growth when it comes to summing up the Rogues’ 13th season.

“This was a huge learning experience, not just for these players, but for me,” said Olmstead. “I probably learned more from these guys than these guys learned from me, honestly, but it was good, man, these guys developed.”

“At the beginning of the summer,” he added, “I said, ‘Let’s surrender the wins and losses, or the outcomes of wins and losses, and let’s focus on getting better.’ As much as I wanted to make the playoffs and win a championship, the guys did get better, and it’s just about their journeys of developing.”

Medford Rogues teammates greet Jordan Marian after his pregame introduction earlier this season at Harry & David Field. (Kris Henry / Rogue Valley Times)

Medford wrapped up the collegiate wood-bat summer campaign last Sunday with a series sweep by the Humboldt Crabs, who advanced to the Pacific Empire League championships as the No. 2 seed behind the reigning champion Healdsburg Prune Packers.

“I think we had potentially five or six guys on any given day that didn’t really have college experience yet,” said Olmstead, “or if they were freshmen, they weren’t even playing innings this year. So this was a huge season for a lot of these guys. It’s just just about learning, that’s what the summer was, and when it came to it, we just learned a ton.”

After putting themselves in decent position to achieve one of the two playoff bids in the second year of the PEL, the Rogues wound up losing 15 of their final 18 games to finish 29-24 overall and 7-17 in PEL play — finishing ahead of only the Solano Mudcats in the six-team league.

“If you, as a general person, were to watch every single one of our games, you would see how close these games actually were,” said Olmstead. “If we minimized the errors, the easy stuff, the simple stuff, then the entire season would be completely different. We would probably be in the playoffs right now. That’s just the importance of paying attention to detail and doing every little thing perfectly or correctly to win baseball games.”

Medford Rogues outfielder Johnny Alley helped pave the way for his team to collect a franchise-record 190 stolen bases with his 29 stolen bases this summer. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)

Facing teams representing the top four of the PEL over the final stretch — most with more Division I players than in the Medford lineup — the Rogues were outscored 180-94, or on average by a 10-5 ledger.

“That came with a lack of experience with our guys,” said Olmstead. “Once they get into bigger games, it turns into pressure situations. For them, it was maneuvering how to deal with those pressure, high-intensity situations, and, unfortunately, we didn’t get the job done.”

“We made too many errors, we had way too many runners on base in scoring position with less than two outs and didn’t score, and our pitchers walked too many guys, or they threw way too many balls,” he added. “So that’s that at the end of the day. But, again, they’re going to take this summer and turn it into such a positive when they go back to their schools, because now they understand what is a pressure situation and how do I truly handle this.”

Offensively, the Rogues were able to translate Olmstead’s desire to create chaos on the basepaths by setting a franchise record with 190 stolen bases. They also came through with 13 comeback wins during the summer.

“That’s stuff that we’ve got to make sure that we highlight for these young kids to understand that they are good, they are talented,” said the manager, “and if they continue to put in the work they are, they could be as good as people say they could be.”

Medford held its own with a team batting average of .293, with Jordan Marian leading the charge with a .358 batting average to go with 23 runs and 25 RBIs and Johnny Alley leading the team with 46 runs, 32 RBIs and 29 stolen bases to go with a .352 batting average.

Medford Rogues shortstop Ryan Severns batted .317 with 36 runs and 30 RBIs this summer. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)

Former North Medford standout Frankie Rutigliano found a home in the No. 9 spot of the batting order, batting .345 with 24 runs and 29 RBIs, while fellow Black Tornado, Aiden Horsley, hit .286 with 19 runs and 21 RBIs and Troy Osborne of Grants Pass batted. 323 with 18 runs and 18 RBIs and Hidden Valley’s Isaac Hill hit .311 with 28 runs and 25 RBIs.

Other key offensive producers for the Rogues were Ryan Severns (.317, 36 runs, 30 RBIs), Orlando Cobarrubias (28 runs, 26 RBIs), Christopher Ortiz (.324, 32 runs, 25 RBIs) and Travis Finney (.325, 25 runs, 19 RBIs).

The Rogues’ pitching production took a hit when team ace Bronson Chapple signed professionally with the Frontier League after early results had him at 5-0 with a 2.14 ERA in 33 ⅔ innings.

Medford’s team ERA stood at 6.30 when all was complete, with Dylan Fanelli (4-1, 4.79 ERA), C.J. Ricaurte (3-1, 4.72 ERA), Caleb Malloy (4-2, 6.32 ERA) and Herman Luna (4-2, 9.76 ERA) collecting the most victories.

Central Point’s Caleb Randolph (1-1, 4.10 ERA) and Kaleb Melzer (0-1, 1.42) each nailed down two saves apiece to lead the relievers, who had six saves in all.

“This was just such a great learning experience for myself, the coaching staff and these players,” said Olmstead, “because we’re all young at the end of the day, and we’re still trying to be the best versions of ourselves daily.”

Medford Rogues pitcher Dylan Fanelli delivers a pitch against the West Coast Kings earlier this summer at Harry & David Field. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)

Olmstead, who is a Grants Pass native, said his first go-round as a PEL manager offered him tremendous growth opportunity as well as he heads on to become an assistant coach for the NAIA’s Reinhardt University Eagles in Waleska, Georgia.

“As a young coach, and a very passionate, aggressive and somewhat old school coach, I still need to develop that patience in me,” Olmstead said in self-reflection. “In baseball, the hardest part of it is you want results now. You want to win now, you want the success now. But you just have to continuously be patient with that.”

Olmstead said his plan is to return to the Rogues next summer, and hopefully build off the successes of this season.

“I love being out here,” he said. “I hope I can be out here for a few summers more if they’ll have me. I would love to come back here again and continue to rebuild it or reshape this team, and win a championship for this town and for this community.”

Reach sports editor Kris Henry at kris.henry@rv-times.com or 458-488-2035