Oregon St. Slips To #7, Closes Road Trip At Seattle

#7 Oregon St. (30-8, 10-4) at Seattle (14-23, 5-9 in the WAC) / 3 PM / Bannerwood Park, Bellevue, WA / KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM

Game Notes / Gametracker / Live Stream Info

Oregon St. wraps up their 5 game northern road trip today with a visit to Seattle University, for a 3 PM game. A win will salvage a winning record for the trip, after the Beavers lost 2 games Saturday at Washington, before bouncing back for a 8-0 win over the Huskies behind Ben Wetzler's complete game.

The Beavers' losses lowered then 2 spots to #7 in this week's Baseball America Top 25 poll. Perfect Game also has Oregon St. at #7, while Collegiate Baseball and the USA Today Coaches' Assistant Sports Information Directors polls both have the Beavers at #6. Those are all still the highest ranking of any Pac-12 team.

North Carolina remains #1, but the big mover this week was North Carolina St. The Wolfpack used 4 road wins, including an ACC sweep at Georgia Tech, to valus all the way from #15 to #6.

Fullerton St. stayed at #4, and is the highest ranked western team, after winning 3 of 4 games, including 2 of 3 at previously 23rd ranked Cal-Poly, who dropped back out of the poll.

Arizona St. edged up 1 spot, from #9 to #8, despite going 2-2 for the week. The Sun Devils took a non-conference 10-9 win at cross-state rival Arizona, but then won 2 of 3 against Valparaiso.

UCLA moved up from #13 to #9 after the Bruins picked up a road win at UC-Irvine, and then took 2 of 3 games at Oregon (both by 1-0 margins), which dropped the Ducks from #10 to #13. Oregon did defeat Portland on the bluff earlier in the week to make it a .500 week.

Stanford jumped back into the top 25, giving the Pac-12 5 ranked teams again, after the Cardinal got a win at Pacific, and then took 2 of 3 from visiting Arizona.

Gonzaga moved up from #24 to #22, after the 'Zags beat Washington St., and took the first 2 of 3 at Pepperdine, and New Mexico is the other ranked western team, after the Lobos moved into the top 25, at #24, following a win over New Mexico St., and then a Mt. West Conference series sweep at Nevada.

Today's Matchup

Oregon St. leads the series 7-4-1. The Beavers and Redhawks split a pair of games in Corvallis season before last.

Seattle is coached by former Oregon St. assistant Donny Harrel.

Seattle has won 3 of their last 4 games, after taking 2 of 3 this weekend from Texas-Arlington, including a 5-0 win yesterday, their first complete game shutout in their modern era, which began in 2010. That performance earned the WAC Pitcher of the Week honor for Seattle starter Andrew Olson. The Redhawks also defeated Washington 10-4 last week.

The Beavers will start with junior RHP Dan Child (4-1 2.60). Child dominated Portland, picking up the win in Oregon St.'s 5-1 victory over the Pilots after throwing only 72 pitches in 8 innings last Wednesday.

Seattle's selection of a starter didn't come until afternoon, but the Redhawks are going to go with freshman LHP Connor Moore (1-0, 7.20). It will be Moore's 10th appearance, but only his second start of the season. Moore's win came as the third pitcher out of the Seattle bullpen on Apr. 9 in the Redhawks's 5-2 win over the University of British Columbia.

Today's lineup for the Beavers:

Tyler Smith-SS

Andy Peterson-2B

Michael Conforto-LF

Dylan Davis-CF

Ryan Barnes-RF

Danny Hayes-1B

Beau Day-DH

Jake Rodriguez-3B

Nate Esposito-C

The merry go round at 3rd base continues.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com