Oregon St. vs. Kansas St. Game Thread

#21 Oregon State (4-3) vs. Kansas St. (3-3) - 11 AM PST at Tony Gwynn Stadium, San Diego St. University / KEJO 1240 AM and KPOJ 620 AM (Not streamed)

Oregon St. concludes their 4 game weekend in San Diego with a morning game against Kansas St. from the Big XII IX (there are only 10 members of the Big 12, and Iowa St. doesn't play baseball). The Beavers and Wildcats have not met since 2000.

The Beavers suffered through their second consecutive blowout loss Saturday against San Diego, diving into a hole early and never recovering.

Final Score - Box Score

OSU 2

SD 13

There were actually a few bright spots, like freshman Michael Conforto going 3 for 3 at the plate (though he did get himself picked off), and then drawing a walk, and Jake Rodriguez regaining his swing, and getting 3 hits. And there were a sprinkling of web gems here and there.

But mostly it was another episode of ineffective starting pitching, which is getting Oregon St. behind early, and not going deep into the game (starter Dan Child went only 3 1/3 innings), and an almost total lack of timely hitting offensively, that doomed the Beavers to a second consecutive loss that reached embarrassing proportions, which got worse as the game went along, with the worst inning, where they gave up 4 runs to the Toreros in their last at bat, after already having fallen behind 9-2.

Oregon St. left 10 runners on base, the 5th time in 7 games this year they have left double digit numbers of base runners. The total is now a staggering 75.

At the same time, Beaver pitching issued more walks than they threw strikeouts, not to mention batters hit by pitches. 2 of 3 aspects of the game are not coming close to supporting the third area, the defense.

The Wildcats, who lost to San Diego 15-1 on Friday, bounced back Saturday, and took their second game of the weekend from San Diego St. After beating the host Aztecs 7-2 Thursday evening, Kansas St. used an 8 run third inning to build a 14-0 lead after 5 1/2 innings, and coasted to a 15-7 win. The Wildcats hammered out 21 hits in the process.

Kansas St. will start sophomore LHP Jared Moore (0-0, 0.00 ERA). Moore went 4 1/3 innings in his only 2012 outing, last Sunday's 8-1 loss at Cal-State Bakersfield, giving up 3 hits and a walk against 4 strikeouts. Moore took over in the 3rd inning, with the 'Cats down 6-0, and gave up only 1 unearned run.

Moore had a 1-0 record in 2011, a win over then #5 Texas A&M, though he only went 1 1/3 innings. He appeared in 17 games last year, and had a 3.44 ERA.

Oregon St. will send freshman RHP Riley Wilkerson (0-0, 4.50 ERA) out to start. Wilkerson started last Sunday in the Beavers' 8-6 win over UC-Santa Barbara, and went 4 innings, giving up 2 runs in the 3rd inning. Wilkerson gave up 4 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 1 hitter.

Wilkerson was throwing for the West Linn Lions last spring.

Tyler Smith will get the start in center field today, and Jake Rodriguez will catch again, but the most surprising thing in the starting lineup is yesterday's starting pitcher Dan Child, who will be the designated hitter, and bat 4th.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com