By the time Tyler Horner left Klamath Falls, it was getting difficult to find an important Oregon Tech offensive record that didn’t have his name attached to it.
Hits. Doubles. Home runs. RBI. Walks.
Horner spent four seasons building one of the best careers in Oregon Tech baseball history, becoming a two-time Cascade Conference Player of the Year and two-time NAIA All-American while helping the Hustlin’ Owls reach the national tournament for the first time.
Then, with one year of eligibility remaining, he took his game to Seattle U.
Five years later, Horner finished his college career with 355 hits.
Before Oregon Tech
Horner came out of Twin Falls High School in Idaho, where he hit .455 with 12 doubles and 33 RBI as a senior in 2021. He earned 4A All-State honors and was named Great Basin Conference Player of the Year while helping Twin Falls to a third-place finish at the 4A state tournament.
Baseball also ran in the family. His father, Jim Horner, was an All-Pac-10 catcher at Washington State before spending nine seasons in the Seattle Mariners organization.
Tyler’s next stop was Oregon Tech.
An Immediate Impact
Horner stepped right into the lineup in 2022, starting 54 games as a freshman and hitting .320 with 66 hits, 17 doubles, six home runs and 40 RBI.
As a sophomore, he raised his average to .357, collected 70 hits and drove in 43 runs. He also drew 39 walks and posted a .476 on-base percentage.
Through two seasons, Horner already had 136 hits.
Then his career took off.
The Breakout
In 2024, Horner hit .394 with 82 hits, 21 doubles, 16 home runs and 59 RBI. He slugged .745 and finished with a 1.222 OPS.
The 16 home runs and 21 doubles tied Oregon Tech single-season records, while his 155 total bases set a new program mark.
Horner was named Cascade Conference Player of the Year and earned first-team NAIA All-America honors, becoming just the third Oregon Tech player to receive first-team recognition and the first since 1982.
As a senior in 2025, he nearly topped it.
Horner hit .399 with a career-high 85 hits, 21 doubles, 13 home runs and 66 RBI. He reached base at a .504 clip and struck out only 17 times in 213 at-bats.
For the second straight year, he was named Cascade Conference Player of the Year and earned NAIA All-America honors.
By the end of four seasons, Horner had 303 hits, 69 doubles, 40 home runs and 208 RBI in 213 games. He left Oregon Tech as the program’s career leader in hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, total bases and walks, while also setting Cascade Conference career records in hits, doubles and RBI.
Part of Oregon Tech’s Rise
Horner’s career also lined up with one of the strongest stretches in program history.
Oregon Tech won 30 games in 2022, then 33 and 34 the next two seasons. In 2025, the Hustlin’ Owls went 39-16, set a program record for wins and earned their first NAIA National Tournament berth.
Oregon Tech then beat Dickinson State 4-2 for the first national tournament victory in program history.
More Than Baseball
Horner maintained a 4.00 GPA while studying mechanical engineering and became a three-time first-team College Sports Communicators Academic All-American.
He was named the NAIA Baseball Academic All-America Team Member of the Year in both 2024 and 2025, then selected as the Overall Academic All-American of the Year for the NAIA following the 2024-25 academic year.
One More Level
After four years at Oregon Tech, Horner used his final season of eligibility to transfer to Seattle U.
He started all 49 games he played, hitting .264 with 52 hits, 11 doubles, six home runs and 37 RBI.
His production improved in West Coast Conference play, where he hit .307 with a .380 on-base percentage and .491 slugging percentage, adding five home runs and 21 RBI in 27 games.
The final season didn’t match his last two years at Oregon Tech, but it gave Horner a chance to test himself against Division I competition — and he became an everyday starter.
Five Years. 355 Hits.
Across Oregon Tech and Seattle U, Horner finished with 262 games, 1,020 at-bats, 164 runs, 355 hits, 80 doubles, 11 triples, 46 home runs, 245 RBI, 142 walks and a .348 batting average.
Horner arrived in Klamath Falls as a decorated high school player and left as one of the best hitters Oregon Tech has had. He helped take the Hustlin’ Owls somewhere they had never been, then finished by proving he could handle an everyday role at the Division I level.
Five years, two Northwest programs and 355 hits later, Tyler Horner left behind a college baseball career worth remembering.
