#22 Oregon State (18-9, 6-4) at #24 Arizona St. (17-12, 4-6) at 6:30 PM MST & PDT - at Packard Stadium, Tempe, AZ - KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM - Video and Audio Stream on Beaver Nation Online, for a fee
Oregon St. and Arizona St. play the middle game of their series this evening. Thursday evening, the Sun Devils broke a 4 game losing streak, and a 6 game losing streak against teams from Oregon, with an 8-2 win over the Beavers.
Arizona St. scored 7 of their 8 runs with 2 outs, including 4 in the decisive 3rd inning, when all of the action happened after Dan Child, who was a bit of a surprise starter for usual series opener Ben Wetzler, had already gotten 2 outs.
The only run the Sun Devils scored when there weren't 2 outs was on a solo home run to open a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the 5th. inning.
Oregon St. missed a golden opportunity to take the early lead with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the top of the first, but as has happened so often all season, struggled to get timely hits.
Arizona St. outhit Oregon St. 13-7, as well as making more clutch hits, and a big part of that was the 14 times that Sun Devil starter, and eventual game winner Brady Rodgers, started Beaver batters with an 0-2 count.
The Beavers finally offered some resistance with 2 runs in the top of the 6th inning, but the Sun Devils stretched their lead out with 3 runs in the 7th on a bases loaded, 3 RBI double down the left field line by Kasey Coffman. It rendered some solid defense where Oregon St. threw 2 Arizona St. base runners out in the 8th.
Oregon St. will go with LHP Wetzler (4-0, 3.15 ERA) tonight, having uesd RHP Child (3-1, 1.54 ERA) to start the series last night, while Arizona St. will send RHP Trevor Williams (5-2, 1.51 ERA) to the mound.
Wetzler went 8 innings in the first game of last Saturday's doubleheader against Washington, and allowed only 3 hits and 3 walks, and just 1 run in the first inning. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the Beavers only gave him 1 run of support, so it was tied 1-1 when he turned the game over to the bull pen, and it was still 1-1 when the game went into the 10th. inning. The Huskies got to Tony Bryant for 2 runs, and went on to win 3-2 when Oregon St. was only able to answer with a single run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Wetzler didn't figure in the decision as a result.
Williams went 7 innings and gave up all 3 of Oregon's runs in the Ducks' 3-1 victory over the Sun Devils last Saturday in the second game of the double header at PK Park. Williams gave up 6 hits and a walk against 4 strikeouts.
Oregon St.'s Danny Hayes is not even along on the trip, after injuring his elbow in a collision early in Sunday's game against Washington, so the Beavers will be without Hayes in Reno as well as against Arizona St.
Go Beavers!