Tyler Kuresa was selected in the eleventh round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins, but elected to attend Oregon to begin his collegiate career last fall. At 6-4, 190 pounds Kuresa is left-handed first baseman that plays outstanding defense and projects to hit at the next level. Perfect Game Crosschecker ranks Kuresa as the 133rd best freshman prospect in the country and 29th out of the state of California.

When the Roseville, Calif. native arrives in La Crosse this summer it won’t be his first experience in summer collegiate baseball even though he’s just a freshman. Last summer, as a high school senior, Kuresa hit .267 in the Hawaiian Summer Collegiate League and was ranked as the third best prospect by Perfect Game Crosschecker and the tenth best prospect in that league by Baseball America following the summer.

Brando Tessar, like his teammate Kuresa, also turned down an offer to play professional baseball fresh out of high school when he opted not to join the Toronto Blue Jays organization after they selected him in the 25th round last June. Instead the 6-0, 180 right-hander became an Oregon Duck and will be dawning Logger green this summer.

A very athletic two-way player in high school, Tessar’s biggest strength lies on the mound where he sports a fastball in the 88-92 mph range and will look to join an already loaded pitching staff at Oregon featuring former Logger Madison Boer. Perfect Game Crosschecker ranked Tessar the 67th best prospect coming out of the state of California in 2010.

Both Kuresa and Tessar are part of Oregon’s 2010-11 recruiting class that Collegiate Baseball ranked third and Baseball America rated as the fifth best class in the nation. Oregon has also been ranked as high as ninth in the Collegiate Baseball pre-season poll for 2011.