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Washington (15-7, 2-1) at #22 Oregon State (15-7, 4-2) at 5:35 PM Friday 1:05 PM Saturday PDT - Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, Corvallis, OR- KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM - Video and Audio Stream on Beaver Nation Online, for a fee - ROOT Sports NW Sarurday
Washington comes floating into Goss Stadium for what could be a soggy series with Oregon St. After several rainy days, there was more rain in the forecast for Friday night, and to varying degrees, the entire weekend. So even with artificial turf, the series opener could be was a long cold affair, and was ultimately delayed onto the weekend, with the first revision to the schedule to try to play a double header on Saturday.
Today's games start a stretch of 9 games in 11 days for Oregon St.
The Huskies are hot, having swept a 3 game series from Cal St.-Bakersfield last weekend, after taking the first 2 of their Pac-12 opening series from a ranked Oregon team the weekend before.
The Beavers let 2 winnable games get away last weekend, dropping their second Pac-12 series of the season to Arizona as a result. Oregon St.'s sweep of California the week before kept the Beavers tied with UCLA and Arizona for first place in the conference race, but Washington and Stanford are only 1/2 game back.
And Oregon, Arizona St., and Utah are all within 1 game of the lead. This old northwest rivalry that goes back over 100 years, to 1911, is going to be critical for both the Beavers and the Huskies in what is shaping up to be a very tough Pac-12 race.
LHP Ben Wetzler (4-0, 3.58 ERA) will take the mound first for Oregon St., while Washington will counter with RHP Aaron West (4-1, 2.12 ERA).
Wetzler went 6 2/3 innings last Friday, but didn't get the decision despite handing the ball over to the bull pen with a 5-1 lead, which the Beavers promptly blew, before ultimately pulling out the 6-5 win.
Wetzler gave up only 4 hits, 4 walks, and 1 earned run, while striking out 7.
West gave up 5 hits, and only 2 walks, and 1 earned run, and picked up the win after going 6 innings in Washington's 4-2 win last Friday over the Roadrunners.
The second set of scheduled starters are RHP Dan Child (2-1, 1.86 ERA) for Oregon St. and RHP Tyler Davis (2-0, 1.00 ERA) for Washington.
Child went 6+ innings last Saturday, and turned over a 3-2 lead to the bullpen. Child didn't get a decision, when 3 relievers later, Oregon St. blew the lead, and eventually lost 5-4 to Arizona. Child allowed 7 hits and 2 bases on balls, and 2 earned runs, while striking out 5 'Cats.
Davis went 7 innings before handing a 7-1 lead to the Husky bullpen, and got his second win of the season against Cal-St. Bakersfield last Saturday. The Roadrunners got only 4 hits against Davis, and no walks, and the 1 earned run.
The Diamond Dawgs recent success is a product of stout pitching. Washington has a staff ERA of 1.67 and opponents are hitting just .181 over the Huskies' last 14 games, during which time they are 10-4.
Last year, Oregon St. won the first 2 games of the series in Seattle, and weather played a role in that one as well. Sunday's game was moved up to make a double header on Saturday, and the third game was still finished in a torrential downpour, as Washington pulled out a come-back 7-6 win, after trailing 6-0 after 3 innings.
The series is scheduled to continue Saturday at 1:05, with a game broadcast by ROOT Sports NW, followed by a second game apprx. 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first game, and conclude Sunday, with another 1:05 start. Weather could further compromise all of that, however.
Go Beavers!