Oregon St. Baseball Schedule Announced

Oregon St. will take the field at Goss Stadim for 24 of the 56 times they play this spring, including 15 Pac-11/12ths (Colorado doesn't field a baseball team at this time) contests. The Beavers released their 2012 schedule today, and opening day is Feb. 17, when Oregon St. opens a 4 game series at UC Santa Barbara. UCSB will be coached by former Beaver All-American pitcher Andrew Checketts, who will be making his coaching debut.

The home opener is Friday, March 9 against West Virginia, in the Nike College Showcase, which also brings Illinois, Connecticut, and Oklahoma, all teams that were in the 2011 NCAA playoffs, to Corvallis.

Pac-12 play begins for the Beavers in Berkeley on March 16, and the first conference home series is against Arizona, on March 23, 24, & 25.

"I’m very excited about our 2012 schedule," Oregon St. head coach Pat Casey said. "We have a great home schedule for our fans at Goss Stadium, and have some exciting trips for this club. The conference is going to be tough as usual, and our non-conference schedule has some great matchups."

Oregon St. visits Eugene twice for non-conference games, on April 24 and May 8, and finish the regular season against the Ducks at Goss on May 25, 26, & 27.

19 of the 56 games are scheduled with teams that made the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Oregon St. also visits Pac-11/12ths newcomer Utah in the Utes first season in the conference, on May 11, 12, & 13. The addition of Utah increases the conference season from 27 games to 30, and forces the conference season to start earlier.

Each of the 11 will play an 11 week conference schedule with one weekend coming as a bye. The Beavers’ bye takes place April 13-15, when Oregon St. takes on Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a non-conference series at Goss Stadium.

Oregon St. also hosts Washington (March 30-April 1), UCLA (April 20-22), and Stanford (May 4-6), and visits Arizona St. (April 5-7), USC (April 27-29), and Washington St. (May 18-20).

The Beavers also play 3 in state games against the University of Portland Pilots, March 27 in Portland, followed by April 3 and May 15 in Corvallis.

Oregon St. will be seeking to repeat last year's run to the Super Regionals, and have the 7th. rated recruiting class in the country according to Baseball America for reinforcements for the players lost to professional baseball after last season.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com