PSU Magazine Spring 2003

PO RT Sophomore Jeff Eischen makes an amazing return As the men's basketball team struggled with injuries to key players this past season, a former player made an improbable comeback. Jeff Eischen beat the odds of playing as a walk-on to a Division l program, but more importantly he overcame a serious circumstance- a heart condition. A freshman from Hillsboro High School, Eischen (pronounced EYE– shun) played in two games early in the 2001-02 season for the Vikings. However, in December 2001, he expe– rienced a racing heartbeat and was sidelined. Team doctors discovered Eischen had a heart arrhythmia and the condition not only put him out for the remainder of the year but effec– tively put an end LO his playing career. lt was a daunting realization for a 6- foot-8-inch, 235-pound young man. Over that winter Eischen had a small defibrillator surgically implanted in his chest to regulate hi s heartbeat. It's hard to beat free softball admission This year anyone can watch Portland State softball for free, any time. Fans can save their money for concession stand hot clogs and sodas, because head coach Teri Mariani '75 found sponsors to pony up the necessary rev- Coach Teri Mariani raised the cash to make home games free. enue for free admission to home games at the Erv Lind Stadium, NE 57th and Halsey. You would think that after 27 years the Viking coach would have no more tricks up her sleeve. But those who know her are not surprised. ln order to meet her revenue goal this year, Mariani was expected to generate nearly $3 ,000 through ticket sales. Instead, she decided to raise the money herself through sponsorships and make her program more accessible to everyone. She found seven sponsors at $500 each and exceeded her goal. With the move to a new confer– ence-one in which the Vikings have an excellent opportuni ty to earn a title-the timing couldn't be better. "l think we have a chance to win our conference," says Mariani. "And I wanted to maximize our crowd size for our players in those conference games-free is a good draw. " ln pre-season polling, the Vikings received two of the six first-place votes from the conference coaches. Portland State's new league, the Pacific Coast Softball Conference, con– sists of six Division I schools: PSU, Sacramento State, Loyola Marymount, St. Mary's, San Diego and Santa Clara. Gone are the big-draw, nationally ranked teams like Hawaii and Fresno State, but the team kept its non-confer– ence, crowd-pleasing schedule with Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington. Sponsors providing free admission to Viking home games are DeNicola's Restaurant , Gard Design Associates, The Letterbox, Jim Mustard Financial Services, Portland Metropolitan Soft– ball Association, Raking Havoc Land– scaping, and Yang and Co. , CPA. The remaining home schedule for the softball team includes a 4 p.m. game against Oregon State on May 1 and conference play at noon on May 3 and 4 against Santa Clara. He was still not expected to return to college basketball and began the 2002- 03 season as a stu– dent assistant with the Viking pro– gram. All along though , Eischen sought a return LO the court. He worked out and played basketball on his own. Eischen's condi– tion stabilized, and he no longer expe– rienced arrhythmia. His playing status was reevaluated, and he was given the go-ahead by PSU team doctors on December 22. Twenty-four hours later Eischen played in a game against the University of Portland. In 14 minutes of action, he scored five points, had three rebounds , and one assist. With the team's injury problems, Eischen ended up starting two games the following week. As the season pro– gressed, he became a valuable reserve, playing 13 minutes a night , and lead– ing the team as best rebounder off the bench. Fortunately for the team, Eischen wi ll return next season along with the two players who were sidelined with injuries. D Get all of the latest sports news at www.GoViks.com. Game stories, sta– tistics, schedules, team information, press releases, and much more are available and updated daily. You can also listen to live broadcasts of foot– ball and men's and women's basket– ball games, or archived broadcasts. Buy season and single game tickets online at www.GoViks.com or call 1-888-VIK-TIKS or 503-725-3307. SPRING 2003 PSU MAGAZINE 29