Oregon St. Meets Portland Halfway

#6 Oregon St. (37-8, 17-4) vs. Portland (17-28, 8-10 in the WCC) / 5:30 PM / Volcanoes Stadium, Keizer, OR / KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM

Game Notes / Gametracker / No Live Stream

Oregon St. meets Portland "halfway" today, as the teams play the third and final game of this year's series on neutral ground about midway between the two campuses, at Volcanoes' Stadium in Keizer, the home of the San Francisco Giants' "A" short season affiliate in the Northwest League.

It's the second visit to Volcanoes' Stadium for the Beavers, who beat Oregon 14-4 in 2009, when Joey Wong went 4 of 6, with 3 RBIs.

The Beavers swept the first 2 games this season, winning 7-5 at Goss Stadium on April 2, and 5-1 April 17 on the bluff in Portland at Joe Etzel Field.

Oregon St. lost the next 2 games at Washington after that April 17 victory, but has since run off 8 straight wins, capped by last weekend's sweep of California.

Portland snapped a mid-season slump, which saw then lose 8 straight, and 12 of 14 starting with the Pilots' April 2 loss to the Beavers, with a sweep last weekend over visiting Loyola Marymount, and then a 7-5 win over Washington St. of the Pac-12 Monday evening. on the strength of a pair of homers by Jeff Melby and Ben Grubb.

Oregon St. has won 17 straight against Portland, a streak dating back to 2007.

The Beavers will probably send junior RHP Dan Child (4-1, 2.65), who started both the earlier mid-week games against Portland, out first.

The Pilots will make a game day decision on who and how to pitch to the Oregon St. lineup that delivered 3 home runs in Sunday's 6-4 win.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com