Gavin Price Batting at Gilmore Field. Photo taken by Rachel Romeo
South Salem High School’s Varsity Baseball team is the only undefeated team in Oregon, and currently ranked first in the state. Gavin Price gives his all to his team as his last season of high school baseball is coming to an end. According to Maxpreps.com, South Salem is above the national average for runs batted in (RBI), batting average and home runs. The Saxons are ranked 29th nationally according to Baseball America.
Price’s Contributions
“Gavin is a leader on and off on and off the field, his attitude is very infectious, he leads not just with his bat, but with the way that he carries himself,” South’s Junior Varsity head coach, Ian Van der Meer, said.
Gavin Price ‘25 leads the team in triples and is a top performer for home runs, runs, hits and runs batted in for South Salem. Price is ranked third in Oregon for home runs having recorded five, second for RBI having recorded 38 and 252nd nationally for RBI. He also currently has a batting average of .419 compared to the national average of .275 and a team average of .387.
Adapting To Leaving Players
South Salem High School has a record and statistics to make their case for the 6-A Oregon State Championship this year, although the expectations for next year’s season may change as Price and other top performing seniors graduate and leave for the next level of competitive baseball.
Last year, when Carter Nelson, a key player on the roster graduated, the team was able to move forward.
“No matter the situation and no matter the fact that we lose our ace pitcher, two guys step up and replace and fill in and do what they need to do, to again to continue to push our team forward,” Van der Meer said.
Season Goals
The team aims to win the 6-A State Championship and may face challenges with the second ranked team in Oregon, The West Linn Lions, who won the Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
“They intentionally walk him [Price] because he is so good,” said Amber Zhu, South’s Athletic Secretary.
With a roster consisting of many of Oregon’s top ranked baseball players like Price and Noah Scharer, and National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 recruits Teagan Scott and Sawyer Nelson, South Salem is still a contender for the championship.
The 6-A Championship for the 2025 season will be held June 7, according to the Oregon School Activities Association .
“Every guy has the explosive capability of hitting one out of the ballpark”, says Van der Meer.
South Salem’s roster has proved to be a challenge for their opponents pitchers, as their batting line up has many offensive threats. In addition to scoring capability the undefeated Saxons are equipped with a young, successful pitching core, consisting of sophomores Kellen Bowman and Harrison Buckingham , making it difficult for teams to respond with scores.
Van der Meer described the pitchers as talented and consistent.
“Back in January we talked about our goal here, we want to win a state championship,” Van der Meer said.
Mudita Mondays
The team, before the season, established their goals for the program to the players. This shifted the ideology from individual success to achieving team success.
In addition to establishing their goals the team focused on developing team chemistry through a variety of strategies. Varsity head coach Max (Jesse) Price would schedule a strategy called ‘Mudita Mondays’, where the team took time to reflect on the recent successes of others.
Weekly team activities promoting team bonding during practices to rejoice and vocalize the successes of teammates removed the animosity and jealousy that is easily developed between team members. This strategy allowed the team to focus on overall improvement and competitiveness without undermining itself.
“Coach Price preaches a term called Mudita which is… living vicariously through your teammates and wanting them to see success,” Van der Meer said.
