#23 Oregon State (30-15, 11-10) at #9 Oregon (34-14, 16-8) at 6:00 PM PDT at PK Park, Eugene - Comcast Sports (Delayed) - KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM - Audio & Video Stream on Beaver Nation Online, for a fee
Oregon and Oregon St. engage in the second battle of the season's Civil War, in the last of 2 non-conference confrontations at PK Park in Eugene. The teams first met back on April 24, also at PK Park, and the Beavers prevailed 7-1, the result of a great pitching performance by Taylor Starr. The final 3 battles of this year's baseball Civil War will come on Memorial Day weekend, the last series of the regular season, and they will be the games that count in the Pac-12 standings.
The game will be shown on a delay basis on Comcast, available only to Comcast system customers, at 9:30 PM, and again Wednesday at both 7 AM and 7 PM. A final showing will air at 11 PM Friday.
Both teams come in on a roll after winning key Pac-12 series last weekend. The Beavers bounced back from blowing a lead Friday night, and ultimately losing to Stanford 8-2, to win both Saturday and Sunday, 4-2 and 5-4 in 10 innings, which moved Oregon St. into the #23 spot in the BaseballAmerica.com top 25 poll.
The Ducks took both the first and last game of their series in Tucson, sandwiching 6-1 and 3-1 wins over Arizona around a 12-6 loss Saturday night. Taking 2 of 3 from the Wildcats allowed Oregon to open a 1 1/2 game lead on the 'Cats in the conference standings. As a result Oregon moved from #10 up to #9 in this week's poll.
That makes this game the first ever baseball Civil War battle where both teams are ranked in the top 25 at the time. One of the best rivalries in collegiate athletics just got another boost in intensity.
In the first meeting, in addition to Starr's 7 inning 5 hit 1 run effort, Oregon St. opened a 6-0 lead by the end of the third inning, as the top of the order had a good night. Joey Matthews and Tyler Smith both had an RBI and scored a run, and Matthews and Michael Conforto both had multiple hits.
Starting pitching will be a game afternoon decision for both teams, but another start for Starr (4-1, 3.58 ERA) is a distinct possibility. Freshman LHP Thomas Thorpe (0-0, 2.66 ERA) gets his first career start for Oregon, after 21 relief appearances so far this season.
Go Beavers!