Brothers from Sherwood face-off on college baseball diamond for UO Ducks, UP Pilots
SHERWOOD, Ore. (KPTV) - It was brother against brother Wednesday night as a pair of siblings from Sherwood battled it out on the college baseball diamond at the University of Portland.
Brothers in arms but in opposite dugouts; University of Oregon junior Ian Umlandt is 18-months older than Nolan Umlandt who is a freshman at the University of Portland. This was kind of like the backyard but this was Division I college baseball.
“There’s an anxiety part of it. You’re like, ‘Man, that’s my little brother out there but you know what? Let’s kick his a**,‘” Ian said.
Dodging raindrops between innings and shoving strikeouts through showers, it’s what Ian and Nolan know best having grown up in the Pacific Northwest.
“He just has all the good words of advice for me so having him already gone through some struggles is huge and a big part to my success through this journey because this is a really hard sport to play,” Nolan said.
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FOX 12 first met the Sherwood siblings when they were first team all-league standouts in high school while sharing bunk beds as Bowmen.
“To be able to not ride the wave of emotion with a sport that’s so difficult is really important. Especially as a pitcher where you can do a lot of things right and still not see success,” said Ian.
Ian, a lefty, is in his third year with the Ducks.
“Journalism with a concentration in sports communication,” he said.
Nolan, a righty, is a freshman at UP.
“Business marketing. Want to do real estate. That’s the goal,” Nolan said.
On this day, both worked two innings of the mid-week affair to start the April day to play, these will someday be the good ole days too.
“It was special. It was really cool. It was something that we’ve been talking about and working for a long time and for it to actually come to fruition and actually happen, it was incredible,” said Ian.
“Being able to be out here on the same field and go against each other was just so special and I loved watching every moment,” Nolan said.
The brothers will meet up again in a few weeks.
“We got a matchup in a few weeks so that’s the other cool thing, we’ll have another one and there’s two more next year at least so that’s exciting too,” said Ian. “The first one is fun but I hope it does happen again.”
The Portland Pilots won Wednesday’s game, 7 to 6, with a walk-off hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The 15th ranked Ducks now begin Big 10 Conference play with Michigan in Eugene this weekend. UP starts West Coast Conference play down at St. Mary’s. Oregon State Beavers will be in Hillsboro against the Pilots on Tuesday night.
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