Oregon St. And San Diego Square Off In Series Deciding Game

#2 Oregon St. (22-3, 4-1) at San Diego (17-10, 4-2 in the West Coast Conference) / 1 PM PDT / Fowler Park / Pac-12 Channel / KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM

Game Notes / Gametracker / Live Stream

Oregon St. and San Diego meet this afternoon in the deciding game of the teams' non-conference series. The team that enjoys celebrating Easter the most will probably be the one with the deepest pitching staff, both of which have been tested in one of the stranger, and least efficient, series seen in some time.

San Diego capitalized on a 5 error performance by second ranked Oregon St. for a 7-4 upset win in the opener, in which the Beavers used up 7 pitchers. Oregon St. bounced back with a season high 18 hits in last night's 14-5 win, as the Toreros committed 6 errors, and consumed 5 pitchers, including having their center fielder throw 4 innings.

Oregon St. will go with junior LHP Ben Wetzler (0-0, 2.87) to start. As Wetzler hasn't been able to last long enough to get a decision yet this season, expect to see a lot of Scott Schultz, and probably some of freshman reliever Max Engelbrekt, who are about the only arms left in the Beaver bullpen.

San Diego made a game morning decision on who to send to the mound first, and decided on freshman LHP PJ Conlon (4-0, 1.52). Conlon has made 3 starts, and appeared in a dozen games. Conlon appears to be becoming the third starter for the Toreros, alleviating the need to use center fielder Louie Lechich, who pitched relatively well in relief last night, and had made 5 starts this season.

Coach Casey continues to search for a solution in center field and at the top of the batting order, shaking things up again.

Today's lineup:

Ryan Barnes-RF

Andy Peterson-SS

Michael Conforto-LF

Dylan Davis-CF

Danny Hayes-1B

Kavin Keyes-3B

Jake Rodriguez-2B

To be determined-DH (Matt Boyd initially shown) Beau Day

Nate Esposito-C

So Oregon St. has all 3 of their catchers in the game.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com