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Oregon St. Opens Series At Washington St.

By AndyPanda
Trevor Morrison and the Oregon St. defense, which leads the Pac-12 in fielding, looks to continue to back up the Beaver pitching, which also leads the conference, this weekend in Pullman.
Trevor Morrison and the Oregon St. defense, which leads the Pac-12 in fielding, looks to continue to back up the Beaver pitching, which also leads the conference, this weekend in Pullman.
(Photo by Andy Wooldridge)

#6 Oregon St. (25-6, 9-3) at Washington St. (15-14, 6-3) / Bailey-Brayton Field / 6:00 PM PDT / No TV / KEJO 1240 AM / No KPOJ 620 AM

Game Notes / Washington St. Game Notes

Oregon St. opens this weekend's Pac-12 series at long time northwest rival Washington St. this evening in Pullman.

The Beavers are riding a 5 game winning streak, after sweeping Stanford last weekend in Corvallis.

Pitching and defense carried Oregon St. past the Cardinal, as the Beavers only allowed 2 runs, and only 1 that was earned, in 31 innings.

The Cougars were really rolling, posting 6 straight wins in taking 3 in a row from San Jose St., and then sweeping California last weekend, before dropping a 3-0 decision to BYU on Tuesday, in a game played in Pasco, WA. Washington St. had averaged 9 runs a game during their 6 game winning streak.

The Cougars also have the current Pac-12 Player of the week in Yale Rosen, who hit .700 (7-for-10) in Washington State's sweep of the Bears, and also drew 2 walks. The junior left fielder had 2 doubles, 2 RBIs, stole 2 bases and scored 2 runs, and became the first Cougar since 2012 to receive the honor. Rosen leads the Pac-12 in batting average, and is hitting .400.

Oregon St. enters the weekend in second place in the Pac-12, 1 game behind Washington, who hosts Stanford this weekend at Husky Ballpark. Washington St. is tied for third, 2 1/2 games back.

Oregon St. will send senior LHP Ben Wetzler (6-0, 0.38 ERA) out as usual for the Friday night start. Wetzler has the second lowest ERA in the country, trailing only Ryan Thompson (0.19) of Campbell University, a local product from Turner, OR, who the entire Pac-12 (and the WCC, Big West, WAC, Mt. West...) missed.

Wetzler turned in a complete game last Friday in beating Stanford 4-1, to tie the school record for career wins at 30. Wetzler allowed only 4 hits and 3 walks, all in the first inning, in beating the Cardinal, and saving the bullpen for the extra inning marathon that would follow on Saturday in the process.

Washington St. will counter with junior LHP Joe Pistorese (2-1, 3.08 ERA). Pistorese threw a complete game shutout at California last Friday, allowing just 2 walks and 5 hits in the Cougars' 3-0 win, while striking out 5 Bears.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com