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30 | October 7, 2020 | MALIBU SURFSIDE NEWS SPORTS
malibusurfsidenews.com
SPORTS
Former Pepperdine baseball standouts
return to school
SUBMITTED BY PEPPERDINE
UNIVERSITY, Ricky Davis
Three names that should
be familiar to Pepperdine
baseball fans will once
again be Pepperdine students.
Chase d’Arnaud, Zach
Vincej and Manny Jefferson
are coming back after
leaving early to pursue professional
baseball careers
to complete their Pepperdine
degrees and graduate.
All three were drafted following
their junior seasons
and made the decisions to
leave school early to chase
the dream of playing in Major
League Baseball. D’Arnaud
played seven years in the Majors
with six different teams,
Vincej reached the pinnacle
of the sport for nine games
in 2017 with the Cincinnati
Reds and one game in 2018
with the Seattle Mariners,
and Jefferson is still on the
quest of making it. He is currently
signed to play in the
independent Frontier League,
but the COVID-19 pandemic
changed those plans.
D’Arnaud played a total
of seven years in Major
League Baseball. He was
drafted in 2008 by the Pittsburgh
Pirates and made his
debut in 2011.
“I got an offer that I felt
like I couldn’t refuse,” said
d’Arnaud of his 2008 drafting
by the Pirates. “You
have a lot more leverage as
a junior because you have
the option of coming back
and completing your senior
year. So, in 2008 I signed
with the Pittsburgh Pirates
and my professional career
started pretty quickly.
I made my debut in 2011
with the Pirates at PNC Park
(home of the Pirates) against
the Boston Red Sox.”
Coming back to school,
while an easy decision for
d’Arnaud, still took a lot of
planning. He founded and
is the creative director, producer
and videographer for
the d’Arnaud Media Group,
working with brands such
as Baseballism, More Than
Baseball and Turn 2 Equity
Partners, to produce short
films and series showing
the lives of professional
baseball players.
Vincej left Pepperdine in
2012 after being drafted by,
and signing with, the Cincinnati
Reds.
“I felt like it was the appropriate
time to try and
achieve my dreams,” Vincej
said of being drafted. “My
whole life I had been wanting
to play professional
baseball and make it to the
Major Leagues, and felt
like, at the time, it was
probably the best opportunity
for me to do that.”
After getting drafted,
Vincej spent five and a half
years in the Minor Leagues
before getting his call up
to the Majors. In 2017, he
appeared in nine games
for the Reds, collecting his
first career Big-League hit
on Sept. 30 against Pedro
Strop of the Chicago Cubs.
Coming back to Pepperdine
to finish his degree
was always in his plan.
Vincej retired from professional
baseball after the
2018 season to pursue a career
in coaching.
“Life moves on and you
Pepperdine’s three returning baseball standouts, from left, Chase d’Arnaud, Zach
Vincej and Manny Jefferson. IMAGE COURTESY PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
have to adapt,” Vincej said.
“I didn’t want to sit around
anymore and wait for something
to happen; I needed
to make things happen for
myself, and to me, school
was the best option.”
To Vincej, coaching was
a logical step. He wants to
help college baseball players
not only improve their
game between the lines, but
also help set them up for
success outside of baseball.
Vincej will join d’Arnaud
on the Pepperdine baseball
staff as an undergraduate
assistant coach, something
that Hirtensteiner is very
optimistic about.
Jefferson was a three-year
standout with the Waves before
getting drafted in 2016.
He reached the High-A
level with the Arizona Diamondbacks
before being
released in 2018. After taking
a year off of baseball,
he was signed to the Frontier
League, an independent
baseball league that takes
place in the Midwest and
Northeast regions of the
United States, as well as two
cities in Eastern Canada.
“Finishing my degree was
definitely a priority for me,”
said Jefferson. “I didn’t
know exactly when I would
come back and finish, but
with everything happening
right now, it felt like a perfect
opportunity. The COV-
ID-19 pandemic absolutely
had an impact on coming
back to school, and everything
being online really
made it an easy decision.”
Jefferson is completing
his advertising degree
at Pepperdine this year.
Incoming Wave competes in French Open Juniors
SUBMITTED BY PEPPERDINE
UNIVERSITY, Morgan Davenport
Pepperdine men’s tennis
signee Guy Den Ouden accepted
an invitation to compete
in the 2020 French
Open Junior Championships,
which began Oct. 4
at the Stade Roland Garros
in Paris.
The French Open, much
like its American counterpart,
is one of the four
Grand Slam tournaments
along with the Australian
Open and Wimbledon.
Den Ouden’s highest career
ranking in the ITF Juniors
came in March of this
year, when he clocked in at
43. Currently, he sits at 47,
going 9-2 in ITF play. The
Netherlands product signed
with the Waves after he
won both the Netherlands
U18 National Indoor Juniors
and the Outdoor/Indoor
U16 championships.
“We are very excited
about Guy having the
chance to compete in this
year’s French Open,” assistant
coach Tassilo
Schmid said in advance of
the championships.
“He is a special talent
who has the ability to go far
in Paris. We as a staff are
really excited to have him
join the Waves this spring.”
2019-20 RECAP
The Waves finished the
2020 dual season ranked
No. 19 in the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association
after going undefeated and
beating the likes of No.
29 Minnesota and No. 42
Oklahoma before the season
was canceled due to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Den Ouden will join Tom
Grosjean in the freshman
class during the spring, as
senior Adrian Oetzbach —
who elected to return this
season per NCAA legislation
— rounds out the
2019-20 roster.