Portland-born Cole Gillespie grew up in West Linn, where he went to high school and was a two way baseball player, both a starting pitcher and a short stop. He lettered three times there and after an impressive final senior season in which he batted .532, and achieved an 0.76 ERA with 52 strikeouts and 5 walks in 46 innings, he decided to commit to OSU because of the “campus, athletics and academics, and the chance to play in Pac-10” or in other words: it was the best of all things combined...and close to home.
At Oregon State he played mostly from the bench in his freshman year, on a team that also included future major leaguer Jacoby Ellsbury.