Longtime friends turn into Pac-10 rivals

Two years after leading LO to a state baseball championship, Mike Stutes and Bryce Mooney are now making their mark in the Pac-10 Conference

By Bill Stewart

The Lake Oswego Review, Aug 10, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Former Lake Oswego stars Mike Stutes, left, and Bryce Mooney pose for a photograph after they faced off during a Pac-10 game earlier this year. Stutes wound up playing a key role in Oregon State’s championship run.

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Mike Stutes and Bryce Mooney. Despite being a year apart in school, they’ve been good friends since they were 7 or 8 years old. When the Lake Oswego baseball team won the state championship two years ago, Stutes and Mooney were pictured standing together, holding the trophy aloft. It was a fitting moment since the Lakers would have been hard-pressed to win the state title without them.

They’re still good friends after going their separate ways following high school. They’ve also become rivals, with Stutes playing a starring role for the Oregon State baseball team and Mooney looking to move into a starring role at the University of Washington next season.

It would have been nice for friends and family to see them remain teammates, which actually almost happened. Either way, it must be somewhat of a rarity to have two pitchers from the same high school team playing prominent roles in the Pac-10.

“I can’t think of any other (high school) in Oregon that has that,” Stutes said.

“It says a lot about the (Lake Oswego) program,” Stutes continued. “To have two guys from there starting in the Pac-10, (coach Jake) Anders must be doing something right.”

It also helps to have great talent, and Stutes and Mooney were two of the best in Oregon when they played in high school. In his senior year, the year Lake Oswego won the state title, Stutes was voted the state’s player of the year while registering an 11-1 record with a 0.66 ERA. The following year, Mooney went 11-2 with a 1.22 ERA as the Lakers were one of the state’s top-ranked teams heading into the playoffs.

During their championship run, Stutes won four of Lake Oswego’s five playoff games, which included a first-round no-hitter against Wilson. Clearly, Stutes was the glue that held the Lakers together, but LO would not have won the title without Mooney’s 2-1 victory over No. 1 Churchill in the second round.

To no one’s surprise, both players received their share of scholarship offers. Stutes initially chose Santa Clara because he knew he could start there right away. Mooney then entertained an offer from Santa Clara while Stutes was playing there. Mooney also fielded an offer from Oregon State a short time before Stutes transferred there.

Mooney eventually signed with the University of Washington after the coach saw Mooney play in the Fall Classic in Arizona two years ago. It was at that event that Mooney’s fastball was clocked at 90 miles per hour for the first time.

“It just happened that about 40 scouts were there,” Mooney said.

With that many scouts in attendance, the Washington coach figured he better sign Mooney before he got away.

“It was a very tough decision,” Mooney said. “It came down to getting a good education and playing baseball right away. I’m very happy with my choice.”

While Mooney was tearing up the Three Rivers League during his final year in high school, Stutes was wondering whether he made the right choice by going to Santa Clara.

“I really liked being in California. I like the lifestyle down there,” Stutes said. “(But) the baseball wasn’t what I was looking for … I didn’t feel like I was getting any better. I almost feel like I was getting worse.”

Part of the problem was Santa Clara had changed pitching coaches after signing Stutes to a scholarship. The new coach promptly changed Stutes’ mechanics and turned him into a less effective pitcher in the process.

“They had me going really slow and methodical … (But) it didn’t work,” Stutes said. “That’s not how I got to where I was. I’m not 6-foot-4 or whatever, so I have to create my momentum somehow.”

It didn’t help matters that Santa Clara barely won half of its games. Stutes was used to playing on teams that won all of the time.

“I have a hard time motivating myself to go out there when there’s nothing on the line,” he said.

So, Stutes asked for his release from his Santa Clara scholarship. At first, the team’s coach balked, then he spent two full weeks giving Stutes daily lectures about the merits of staying put.

“He was pretty angry about it,” Stutes said, but eventually the coach relented and signed Stutes’ release.

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