Oregon State baseball coach Pat Casey said Wednesday the official hire of new volunteer/pitching coach Nate Yeskie is almost complete, and the change stemmed from a personal decision by departing coach David Wong.

Wong wanted time away from the team to watch his son, middle infielder Joey Wong, play for the Beavers for a year before he most likely goes pro after next season.

“David wanted to have a year to see his son play, and not be in uniform without other duties,” Casey said. “He also got married last December, and just wanted more (personal) time.”

Wong was a volunteer assistant for two seasons, and then added being the pitching coach his third season with the team.

“David is a great guy, and he’ll be around our program,” Casey said.

Yeskie, 33, is a former minor league pitcher and was most recently an assistant coach at UNLV from 2004-07.

“We had so many people who wanted the job,” Casey sad. “We got to see people from all over the place. We got a guy who has the knowledge and attitude we want to be working with us seven days a week.”

Schedule released

The 2009 schedule has been released and features 54 games. It begins with a March 20-22 trip to Tennessee. The Volunteers are scheduled to play the Beavers in a three-game series in 2010 at PGE Park.

The PGE Park series this season is against Missouri State of the Missouri Valley Conference on March 13-15.

OSU will run a six-team tournament March 5-8 in Palm Springs, Calif. The other teams are Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Gonzaga, San Francisco and UC Riverside.

Pacific-10 Conference play begins March 27-29 against Oregon. The first game is in Eugene, with the other two sites to be determined. There will be two nonconference games with the Ducks in Corvallis on April 28 and May 19.

Conference home series are Arizona State (April 3-5), California (April 17-19), Washington State (May 1-3) and Southern California (May 15-17.)

Grbavac back

Right-handed setup man Mark Grbavac is expected back next season even though the New York Mets drafted him in the 32nd round, Casey said.

There is an Aug. 15 deadline for Grbavac to sign, or he returns to the draft pool for next season.

“He told me he’s coming back, and I trust him,” Casey said. “He’s an academically-minded kid.”

The other player drafted with eligibility left was designated hitter/infielder Jason Ogata, but he signed with the Texas Rangers. It was a minor surprise for Casey.

“We wanted him back, and I think he’s a lot better than a 38th round pick,” Casey said. “But, he’ll always be a part of our program.”

Nash rumor

There has been a rumor floating around that infielder Garrett Nash might be leaving the program to go on a Mormon mission, and Casey didn’t put it to rest.

“I’ve talked with him about his mission; I don’t know anything about that happening but we’ll know more soon,” Casey said. “Other than that, we expect everyone else to be back.”