Welcome back to my "2011 Regular Season in Review." In this installment I conclude with some general thoughts about where I see the team headed, and after the break included the stat breakdowns for the season. The stats are interesting this year because none really jump out at you, but during most of the season the team played solid baseball as a team. Stats are also funny in that overall, say especially for the offense, the stats are low on the national level but in most cases the Beavs out performed their opponents throughout the entire season.
So I guess the new big question is where is all of this headed? For me personally I am going to quote myself back in the preseason preview: "Do I know where all of this is headed? Not in the least this season, and that both scares me a bit and makes me excited for the possibilities." As the season progressed I very much became more excited than nervous. It was a pleasure looking forward to each series weekend, but now with the terrible ending to the season I'm starting to get into the "scares" me feeling all over again. At the same time I really do feel the team, when we take into account the full season, has proven themselves worthy of playing in the postseason. Along those lines though I am nervous about how well the team can now rally itself in a very all-or-nothing environment.
For the love of irony I guess, the team has done very well, in my opinion, against the higher caliber teams this season (the types they will see in the postseason), such as Connecticut, Arizona State, and UCLA. Of course though the margin for error seen when playing some of the lesser caliber teams this year is going to be even less forgiving in the postseason. There is still a little wiggle room, as both the 2006 and 2007 teams demonstrated, but the team will be called on to really reach deep at times now. Again though the team has played beneath their higher caliber performances to lose to teams, quite frankly, they had no business losing to. If this team, the one that underplays to the competition, shows up in the postseason it won't be going far. If the team finds that chemistry and energy it had during the stretch that saw OSU baseball rise to number two in the country then I think they can go far.
Can they do it? Which team is going to show up in the postseason? What are your thoughts?
Oregon State Baseball 2011
Record: 38-17
Home: 20-7, Away: 12-9, Neutral: 6-1, Pac-10: 17-10
Offensive Stats
-Team batting average: .266 (opponent batting average: .243), which was 230th in the nation.
-Hits: 477 (opponent hits: 437), which was 212th in the nation.
-Doubles: 106 (opponent doubles: 85)
-Triples: 12 (opponent triples: 5)
-Runs: 315 (opponent runs: 203), which was T125th in the nation.
-HRs: 25 (opponent HRs: 16)
-RBIs: 287 (opponent RBIs: 186)
-Team slugging average: .380 (opponent slugging average: .322), which is 187th in the nation
-Strikeouts: 392 (opponent strikeouts: 405)
-Base on balls: 243 (opponent base on balls: 145), which was 44th in the nation.
-Stolen bases: 50 for 64 attempts (opponent stolen bases: 16 for 35)
-LOB: 426 (opponent LOB: 374)
-OB%: .366 (opponent OB%: .310)
Pitching Stats
-Team ERA: 2.93 (opponent ERA: 5.30), which was 22nd in the nation.
-Strikeouts: 405 (opponent strikeouts: 392), which was 65th in the nation for strikeouts per nine innings.
-Hits allowed: 437 (opponent hits allowed: 477), which was 24th in the nation for hits allowed per nine innings.
-Doubles allowed: 85 (opponent doubles allowed: 106)
-Triples allowed: 5 (opponent triples allowed: 12)
-HRs allowed: 16 (opponent HRs allowed: 25)
-Base on balls: 145 (opponent base on balls: 243), which was 20th in the nation for walks allowed per nine innings.
-B/Avg for opponents: .243 (opponent B/Avg against OSU batters: .266)
-Pick offs: 7 (opponent pick offs: 11)
-HBP: 35 (opponent HBP: 55)
Defensive StatsThe Beavers ended the season with 62 errors and a fielding % of .971 (as compared to the opponents total of 51 errors and fielding % of .975 versus the Beavs). The OSU fielding % ended at 60th in the country (out of the D1 schools ranked). I think these overall numbers were a bit disappointing, but not quite as horrible as I thought they could have been.
Photos (from top to bottom)
Andrew Susac ripping one down the line, OSU versus Seattle, Game 2, March 23, 2011
Ryan Dunn and Jake Rodriguez turning a double play, OSU versus USC, Game 1, May 20, 2011
Ryan Dunn and Jake Rodriguez turning a double play, OSU versus USC, Game 1, May 20, 2011
Kavin Keyes hitting a double, OSU versus USC, Game 1, May 20, 2011
Brian Stamps running the bases, OSU versus California, Game 1, May 7, 2011
Scott Schultz pitching, OSU versus Seattle, Game 2, March 23, 2011
Jake Rodriguez turning a double play, OSU versus VMI, Game 2, March 13, 2011