SPRINGFIELD – Kyle Miller, Braden Corgain, and Brock Johnson are trying to extend their final summer of American Legion baseball.
The three Thurston graduates will lead the Eugene Challengers into the AAA state tournament at Harry and David Field in Medford beginning Saturday. The champion will be crowned on Wednesday, July 29, and advance to the Northwest Regional tournament Aug. 5-9, also in Medford.
“This is when you have to stay hot,” said Miller, a pitcher for the Challengers.
“You win your league and get to this point, it is all about staying healthy and staying hot. We have got all the momentum we can going into state so as long as we’ve got all the wheels running, it will be fun.”
The Challengers have been hot all summer, compiling a 35-5 record, including an 11-1 mark to win Area 4.
“We have a different hero every night,” Eugene coach Kenny Niles said. “The difference between our No. 1 and No. 5 pitcher depends on the day they are pitching. We are good at every position, solid in the lineup. We need to run the bases a little better and cut down on strikeouts, but I think we should be in the mix on Day 5 of the state tournament if that is the case.”
This is the fifth summer that Thurston has been affiliated with the Challengers, joining players from Marist, Sheldon, Willamette, Churchill, North Eugene and Junction City.
“It was a perfect scenario for us because Thurston had a pretty active group and the national enrollment limits were increased so it worked out really good that we were able to expand and these guys decided to combine forces,” Niles said. “That has been a big push for us because if you look at the last five years, Thurston has been pretty good and getting some of their top-tier kids has really helped our program.”
Miller and Corgain both returned the summer after their freshman year in college while Johnson graduated from Thurston last month. All three were on the fence about playing this year for different reasons before deciding to team up again.
“I thought about not coming back after my injury,” said Johnson, a shortstop who tore his ACL last summer. “With these two coming back and falling short of the state championship last year and two years ago losing in the regional championship, that gave me an edge. I want to get back to the World Series. One last run with these guys.”
Corgain, who is back for a second year with Eugene, spent last season as a redshirt catcher at Lewis & Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. He is batting .250 with 14 runs scored and 13 RBIs for the Challengers.
“I grew up playing baseball with Kyle for 14 years and you never know if you will have an opportunity to play together again,” Corgain said. “Neither of us were going to play this year and it was kind of sad, so after talking to each other we decided, ‘Why not?’ You never know when we will take the field together again.”
Corgain and Miller helped Thurston win back-to-back Class 5A baseball titles in 2023 and 2024 with Johnson joining them for the second season.
One last time
Miller just completed his freshman season at Linn-Benton Community College and returned for his fourth season with the Challengers. He is 6-0 with a 0.78 ERA this summer.
“I was expecting to do some offseason training and stay healthy, but at the last minute I decided to come back and play one more year with these guys and I am glad I did,” he said. “I balance baseball with my work schedule so I took a while to decide, but Kenny and I talked it over and came up with a schedule and plan to be here so being back has been great.”
Niles has emphasized getting college players to return for one last season with the Challengers and appreciated Corgan and Miller agreeing to do that.
“You are not going to win the Area 4 title with 17-year olds playing against 19-year olds, so we have been lucky to get those college kids back,” Niles said. “Those guys play at good programs so to come back, it is amazing the things they take care of that never gets to our plate. We’ve had some kids who haven’t had the success they are used to so they start pressing and both Kyle and Braden have taken on a role we don’t have to, being a part-time psychiatrist, which is really good. They get it.”
Corgain and Miller have welcomed their leadership roles.
“Bringing back the knowledge I learned during my freshman year, I am glad I get to share it with the younger guys who haven’t played baseball at a higher level,” Corgain said.
Johnson – whose dad, Scott, is an assistant for the Challengers – has been around the program since he was an 8-year-old bat boy. He is a four-year starter for Eugene and batting .425 with 47 runs scored, 30 RBIs and 22 stolen bases during the summer.
“If for some reason all our coaches did not show up someday, the program would probably run better because Brock knows our system,” Niles joked. “He’s another coach on the field and knows everything we are doing.”
Johnson tore his ACL during a game on July 4, 2025 and had surgery three weeks later. He returned to help the Colts reach the Class 5A title game and has signed to play at Bushnell next year.
“I am starting to feel back to normal after the injury,” he said. “In the spring I’d get pretty sore and didn’t quite feel normal, but I was good enough to play. I am still wearing a brace when I play, but they said once I clear one year since surgery I can take the brace off.
Eugene opened Area 4 play with a 10-0 loss to Medford last month and trailed 6-0 in the second game of the doubleheader before rallying for an 8-6 win to begin an 11-game winning streak.
“We were on life support to start league, but we found a little magic and then ran the table,” Niles said.
Now the Challengers will look to make a run to the American Legion World Series from Aug. 13-18 in Shelby, N.C.
“Our team chemistry has been great, the guys are all super close,” Johnson said. “It is hard not to bond with each other when you are at the yard every day and taking road trips to Seattle and Reno. Every one of us has played with each other at some point in our career, so that has been huge.”
The three former Colts have won state titles in both high school and American Legion as they look to add to their postseason success during the next couple weeks.
“We won two titles in high school and during those years we knew we had the tools and we rolled through league play and eventually through the playoffs,” Corgain said. “If we all buy in, we definitely have the tools to do it.”
