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#4 Oregon St. (16-3, 1-0) at Utah (8-8, 0-1) / Smith Ball Park, Salt Lake City / 1 PM MDT (NOON PDT) / No TV / KEJO 1240 AM / KPOJ 620 AM
Oregon St. continues their Pac-12 season opening series at Utah today with a mid-day game.
The Beavers used a proven recipe to open the weekend with a 6-1 win last night; i.e. have Ben Wetzler go out and dominate for most of the night, have Michael Conforto hit a home run, get a good offensive inning, capitalize on their opponent's errors (those scored as such an those not), and then have Scott Schultz put the win away. Easy, right?
We'll see if Oregon St. can duplicate that today, and if they do, it will be with a rested starter taking the mound.
Oregon St. head coach Pay Casey has elected to shake up the starting rotation again, opting to push Jace Fry, who has been the Saturday guy all season back to Sunday this weekend. This after Fry threw a 2 hit shutout 2-0 win at Northern Illinois last Saturday in the first game of a double header the Beavers swept from the Huskies.
Sophomore RHP Andrew Moore, who was the Saturday guy all last season, but moved up to the Friday night slot when Wetzler had to sit out the first 2 weekends of the season, and until Sunday on the third, due to his NCAA eligibility flap dating to last year's MLB draft and subsequent negotiations, is back in his Saturday role.
Moore (1-1, 0.89 ERA) missed all of last weekend's action when he came down with the flu.
If Moore and Fry settle in successfully, the starting rotation will be back to what Casey had originally envisioned before the season began.
Utah will counter with sophomore RHP Bret Helton (2-0, 1.59 ERA). Helton has been arguably the Utes most effective, and most stingy, pitcher this season. He went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs, both earned, last Sunday in the Ute's 7-3 win over Missouri St.
Casey has also shaken up the batting order, dropping Andy Peterson down to the bottom of the order, and moving Trever Morrison up to the top. Here's today's Beaver lineup:
SS - Trever Morrison
CF - Jeff Hendrix
LF - Michael Conforto
RF - Dylan Davis
1B - Kavin Keyes
DH - MIchael Howard
C - Logan Ice
3B - Caleb Hamilton
2B - Andy Peterson
P - Andrew Moore
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com
