Saint Louis alum Aiva Arquette faces UH as one of college baseball’s best

Aiva Arquette doesn’t have time to worry about what could happen in July’s Major League Baseball draft.

His sole concern is what drives him the most since joining the Oregon State baseball program in the fall.

Winning.

The Beavers shortstop, who transferred in the offseason after spending two years at Washington, returns home this weekend to play Hawaii in a four-game series at Les Murakami Stadium tonight through Monday.

Arquette, who never played a game at the Les in his high school career at Saint Louis, leads No. 7 Oregon State into its first games against Hawaii since UH opened the 2010 season at home against the Beavers.

The 6-foot-5 junior, who was the state Player of the Year in boys basketball as a senior with the Crusaders, has made the most of his baseball career in college. He has established himself as one of the top players in the country, hitting .362 with 10 doubles, 16 homers and 54 RBIs this season.

“Coming here, I think the culture here and the coaching staff and the players all make me better,” Arquette said in a phone interview Wednesday. “That’s definitely raised my game. We have to win ballgames here, and that’s the expectation. I have to hold my standard to where I compete every day. We’ve just got to win.”

Oregon State had broken into the Top 5 in the national rankings before losing four in a row to Oregon in the past week.

Arquette hit his 16th home run of the season in Sunday’s loss to move into seventh place on the school’s single-season career list.

Arquette’s sister, Adrianna, completed her freshman season in the fall with the Hawaii women’s volleyball team, but Aiva said the family will only be wearing the colors of one school in the stands this weekend.

“They are going full Oregon State for these games, for sure,” Arquette said with a laugh.

The Beavers drew 4,084 fans for Tuesday’s home game against the Ducks, marking their third-largest crowd in a regular home game at Goss Stadium.

The first three games of this weekend’s series against the ’Bows are already sold out. Only upper-level tickets remain for Monday’s finale.

Arquette, who participated in the Apple Cup rivalry for two years with Washington against Washington State, said it’s not nearly as intense as the Civil War rivalry between the Ducks and Beavers.

Oregon State was swept in the season series for the first time since 1972. Arquette admitted it came as a shock to the system.

“We’re hungry as ever,” Arquette said. “This past weekend was kind of shell-shocking a little bit, losing to our rivals especially. To come at their home being swept and coming to our home and defeating us, we’re pissed about it. I think we’re hungry as ever and we’re ready to compete.”

Despite the losing streak, Oregon State is still in good position to secure one of the 16 NCAA Regional host sites.

The Beavers are a combined 10-2 against four Big West opponents they have played this season — Cal Poly, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge.

Arquette, who was selected in the 18th round of the MLB draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks coming out of high school, has played his way into becoming one of the top prospects in the country.

MLB.com currently has the 21-year-old ranked fifth on its top prospects list. His performance in the Cape Cod League last summer elevated his long-term prospects at shortstop after playing second base at UW.

Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy, a Baldwin alumnus, is ranked 24th on the same list. Hawaii has never had two players who graduated from high school in the same year taken in the first round of the same draft.

While Arquette is focused exclusively on the upcoming weekend back home, if he needs any advice on preparing for the draft, he can check in with former Saint Louis teammate Caleb Lomavita, who was drafted 39th overall in last year’s draft out of California.

Only ‘Iolani (David Masters, 24th in 1985, Mike Fetters, 27th in ’86) has had graduates drafted in the top 40 picks of back-to-back drafts.

“I’m super excited to be home, just for me and my family to be there and play in Les Murakami Stadium for the first time,” Arquette said. “I think the team is excited, too, because most of the boys haven’t been to Hawaii and getting to play college baseball in Hawaii is pretty sick. I think we’re all stoked.”

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