Stanford (10-13, 3-5) at #6 Oregon St. (24-6, 8-3) / Goss Stadium / 1:05 PM PDT / No TV / KEJO 1240 AM / KPOJ 620 AM
Game Notes / Stanford Game Notes
Oregon St. will go for a sweep of Sanford today, after the Beavers outlasted the Cardinal for a 1-0 win after Jeff Hendrix drove in Trever Morrison for the only run scored yesterday afternoon. The win clinched Oregon St.'s 8th series win in the last 10 years against the one time "Super 6" power Stanford, which won 6 of the first 7 series after the unification of the Pac-12 North and South.
The Beavers got a gritty pitching performance from starter Andrew Moore, who got out of trouble inning after inning, including getting 3 of the 4 inning ending strikeouts that the Cardinal suffered. Moore also got solid bullpen backup, highlighted by Scott Schultz's 4 2/3 innings to finish things out, and get his 4th win of the year.
Oregon St. also turned 3 inning double plays, all hit into by Stanford clean-up hitter Alex Blandino.
The Beavers needed all of it in order to overcome an outstanding by Cal Quantril and AJ Vaegas, who combined to limit Oregon St. to only 4 hits in the first 12 innings, before Morrison and Hendrix finally cracked the code in the 13th.
Oregon St. will be hoping to either earn a share of the Pac-12 lead, or stay within 1 game of conference leading Washington, and ahead of Oregon, who enters the day a game behind the Beavers. The Huskies held onto first place, after, interestingly, a 1-0 win over the Ducks last evening, though they only went 9 innings, fending off a bases loaded attempt at an Oregon comeback in the 9th.
Today could be another pitching duel, just as Friday night's 4-1 Ben Wetzler masterpiece and yesterday were.
Oregon St. will send out junior RHP Jace Fry (5-1, 1.81 ERA). Fry only allowed Arizona 1 hit and 2 walks in 7+ innings last Sunday, before handing the ball over to Schultz to take the Beavers home to an 11-0 rout of the 'Cats.
Stanford will counter with 6'9" freshman RHP Chris Viall (1-2, 4.26 ERA). Viall was knocked out in the second inning of the Cardinal's 9-2 loss to Oregon last Sunday, but went 6 innings against USC, and handed a 3-1 lead over to the Stanford bullpen the week before, in a game the Trojans came back to win 6-3 in 10 innings.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com