Darn, I was going to get a Game Thread up for tonight's game, but checking up on it found out it has been (not surprisingly) rained out.

No news about a make up game, but since this is already a tightly packed OSU Spring Tournament I kind-of doubt it (oh, noted that it is listed as a canceled game not a postponed one).

The OSU site does state this though:

The rest of the tournament will be played as scheduled, with the Beavers hosting Utah at 2 p.m. and Portland at 6 p.m. Sunday's action features Utah and Portland at 11 a.m. and Oregon State and Portland at 3 p.m.

So here's to hoping for some baseball to be played this weekend!

The Beavers went 2-1 in Surprise to improve their record to 7-3 on the 2010 Season. The Beavers ended up outscoring their opponents 23-9, with great Offensive showings on Thursday and Saturday. Now let's take a look at Game 1.

In the first game of the Coca-Cola Classic, the Beavers beat UC Riverside, 10-3. After a scoreless 1st Inning, the Beavers got things going in the second. All with two outs, the Beavers crossed the plate four times in the second frame. Parker Berberet had an RBI Single, Jared Norris scored on a Wild Pitch, and Keith Jennette had a 2 RBI Sacrifice Bunt.

The highlight of the game came in the third inning when Freshman Pitcher Matt Boyd hit a Two Run Homer to Right Center Field to give the Beavers a 6-0 advantage.

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The Beavers went 2-1 in Corvallis to take their second series win of the 2010 season. The Beavers ended up outscoring the Volunteers 20-10, with a great Offensive showing on Friday and a great Defensive showing on Sunday. Now let's take a look at Game 1.

In the first game of the series the Beavers won, 17-1. Although for the first 2.5 Innings, the game looked like it was going to be a close pitcher's duel. But in the 3rd Inning, the Beavers got their bats going. All with two outs, the Beavers recorded a HBP, a Stolen Base, a Walk, 3 Doubles, and a Single. Everything added up to a 5-0 Oregon State lead. But the Beavers weren't done there. In the 4th Inning, all with two outs, the Beavers added on six more runs lead by a Stefen Romero Single. Oregon State took an 11-0 lead into the 5th Inning.

In the Fifth, Tennessee managed to get on the board with a Zach Osborne Home Run to cut the Beavers lead to 10. In the 6th Inning, Oregon State added two more runs thanks to a Keith Jennette RBI and a Tennessee Error which scored Andrew Susac. In the 7th Inning, Parker Berberet brought home Jared Norris on a Sacrifice Fly to give the Beavers a 14-1 lead. The Madness finally stopped in the 8th Inning, when the Beavers crossed the plate three final times to make the score 17-1.

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The Beavers went 3-1 in Honolulu to take their opening series of the 2010 season. The Beavers ended up outscoring the Warriors 26-14, proving that their bats were hot, and for the final three games, the pitching was superb. Now let's take a look at Game 1.

In the first game of the series the Beavers won, 10-6. But the Warriors would draw first blood. In his first outing of the year, Tyler Waldron had a tough time settling down. As did the rest of the Defense. The Beavers made two errors in the first inning on the road to a pair of Hawaii runs. It could of been much worse though, as Hawaii left the bases loaded.

Up until the 4th Inning, the Offenses were kept quiet after the Beavers Defensive letdown in the 1st Inning. But in the fourth, the Beavers found their Offensive stroke. Oregon State drove in three runs to take the lead, highlighted by a Stefen Romero 2 RBI Double. But Hawaii took the lead right back in the bottom of the inning with a 2 Out Grand Slam by Kevin Macdonald to give the Warriors a 6-3 lead. 

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Okay, so how many times have I used the phrase "I’m excited" when associated with baseball starting up? Well, I’m pretty darn excited! As I’ve mentioned before baseball has definitely gone to the top of my favorite OSU sports. There are two times of year that bring back personal memories for me, the first is that hot end of summer and beginning of fall crispness in the air that reminds me of those damned daily doubles in soccer. The second, and more favorable one, is the end of the winter with the just beginnings of stuff blooming and that smell of freshly cut grass that means time to be playing baseball.

I don’t play competitive ball any longer, but yes I can live vicariously through the Oregon State players (you soccer players can have your daily doubles and morning runs though).

The last couple years have been frustrating overall for Beaver baseball, especially after the three mind-blowing years of success we had before, but I just have a good feeling about this year (did I say that about last year?). I think this season will very much build on last year and it should also be fun to watch the formation of a unique personality with this team. What will it be? No idea and that’s part of the fun! But here are some bits of news to hopefully peak our curiosity even more:

Baseball Practices For First Time In 2010

Kevin Rhoderick Named A Second Team Preseason All-American By Baseball America

Baseball Chosen To Finish Second In Pac-10 By League's Coaches

Preseason NCBWA rankings has OSU at 18

Rivals has OSU at #17

The "Collegiate Baseball" Newspaper poll has the Beavs at #10!

[Oh, and I meant to post this the first time around but forgot, but here is Connor's preview of this weekend's Hawai'i series: Hawaii Series Preview]

And some other misc stuff of interest!

Baseball Unveils Uniforms For 2010 Season

Baseball Announces 2010 Radio Schedule

On The Hill With Tyler Waldron (Waldron will be blogging this season)

And let’s keep this history going: Baseball Named No. 2 Team Of The 2000s By Baseball America

And after the break there are my more detailed preseason thoughts and some pics from last season. Go Beavs!

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We're exactly two weeks away from the First Pitch of the 2010 NCAA Baseball Season, and the Beavers open up in Honolulu. Below is a quick preview of the four game series. Go Beavers!

The Games

Day            Date                    Time (Pacific)        
Friday         Febuary 19th        8:35 PM
Saturday     Febuary 20th        3:05 PM
Sunday       Febuary 21st        3:05 PM
Sunday       Febuary 22nd       7:05 PM

You can listen to the first three games on KPAM 860, with the final game of the series airing on 1550 KKAD.

The Venue

Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu seats 4,310 people. The stadium was built in 1984 and was renamed after legendary Rainbow coach Les Murakami for the 2002 season. It was fomerly named Rainbow Stadium. The Field Dimensions are below.

Left Field-325 Feet
Center Field-385 Feet
Right Field-325

3,740 of the seats covered to shelter the fans from the frequent spring rains of Manoa, called the "Manoa Mist" by fans.

Hawaii

The Warriors have 7 Seniors on the roster this year, 4 of which are starters. Hawaii is led by 1st Basemen Kevin Macdonald, who earned 1st Team All-WAC Honors last season. He also led the team with 60 RBI's and 14 Home Runs.

Hawaii's lead pitcher is Nathaniel Klein. Klein started 10 games out of 11 appearences last year. He finished with a record of 3-4 with a 5.10 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 60.0 innings pitched.

Hawaii went 28-23 last season, including an 8-4 loss at Oregon State. They finished 5th in the WAC last year.

This season, the Warriors were picked to finish 3rd in the Preseason WAC Coaches Poll. In addition, Sean Montplaisir, Greg Garcia, and Nate Klein were named to the Preseason All-WAC Team. Collegiate Baseball listed Hawaii in the "Also Recieving Votes" category for their Preseason Top 40 Poll.

Sophomore Kolten Wong was named to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America Third Team, as selected by the writers of Collegiate Baseball.

Prediction

Friday-Win
Saturday-Win
Sunday-Loss
Monday-Win

I'd be very disappointed if we didn't go 3-1. We should have no problem handling them.

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Oregon St. Baseball Coach Pat Casey announced a slate of 12 players who have signed a National Letter of Intent for the 2011 Baseball season.

We have signed four or five student-athletes who are utility guys. They are guys who are position players, who can play more than one position, and who may also pitch. You have to decide where they're going to go once they get here.

If you look at our class, you have some players who are very talented in more than one area. We're looking to fill some positions where we can use a position-type guy, and we've signed some kids who are capable of doing that. From both this year's recruiting class, and next year's, we will need players to come in and play immediately due to the numbers lost to the draft.

The class comes from five western states, and includes four in-state recruits.

The signed players are: pitchers Dan Child (Rocklin, Calif.), Adam Duke (Spanish Fork, Utah) and Scott Schultz (Gig Harbor, Wash.), utility players Cole Baylis (Los Altos, Calif), Cameron Booser (Milton, Wash.), Brandon Drury (Grants Pass, Ore.), Ian Kendall (Ashland, Ore.), Brian Pointer (Reno, Nev.) and Tom Zarosinski (Lake Oswego, Ore.), outfielder/pitcher Ben Holmes-Wetzler (Clackamas, Ore.), infielder/catcher Jake Rodriguez (Elk Grove, Calif.) and outfielder Drew Vettleson (Kitsap, Wash.).

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Pat Casey is bringing the 2-time NCAA champion program to Medford for the first time, for an exhibition intrasquad game at Harry & David Field, beginning at Noon (weather permitting) this Saturday.

The game marks the return of local stars Sam Gaviglio (P) of Ashland, Rob Folsom (OF) of North Medford, James Nygren (P) of Henley, and Logan Boyd (OF) of South Medford.

The Medford Baseball Youth Society is hosting the event, with tickets priced at $5 dollars.

Jay Reese and Brent Watts will have the radio broadcast on Beaver affiliate station, KMED AM-1440, beginning with Beaver Pregame at 11:30am.  The game will also be streamed live online, and also archived at www.tablerocksportsnetwork.com.

The Beavers open the 2010 season on February 19th. in Hawaii, and will be in the islands thru the 23rd., before returning to Portland to host the Tennessee Vols February 26-28.  Then, the Beavers head to Surprise, Arizona March 3-7, and will play at the spring training home of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.