Oregon St. and Stanford Look To Continue Series

Stanford (10-12, 3-4) at #6 Oregon St. (23-6, 7-3) / Goss Stadium / 1:35 PM PDT / No TV / KEJO 1240 AM / KPOJ 620 AM

Oregon St. and Stanford look to continue their weekend series this afternoon. A soggy Saturday forecast that is expected to get wetter as the day goes on could mean a Sunday double header is actually in the offing, even with artificial turf in the infield at Goss Stadium. The weather is predicted to still be showery, but far less wet, Sunday.

The Pac-12 is known for often "playing" in unplayable conditions, disregarding safety altogether, and getting a product that has nothing to do with baseball, even if baseballs and baseball bats are involved, so its impossible to predict what will happen, and moving a start time is even a possibility, given that there's no TV schedule to work around this weekend.

The Beavers, and especially Ben Wetzler, were too much for the Cardinal in last night's series opener, as Wetzler went the distance, throwing a 4 hit 4-1 win that tied him for the all time team record of 30 career victories.

That was a bit of a surprise, given that Wetzler walked the bases loaded in the top of the first inning, but after that, Wetzler was overwhelming. And he got help in the form of a Michael Conforto home run, and back to back doubles by Michael Howard and Caleb Hamilton, as the Beaver bats came through with multiple extra base hits.

Oregon St. will send sophomore RHP Andrew Moore (2-2, 2.58 ERA) out to start the game. Moore had arguably his worst outing ever last Saturday at Arizona, going only 3 innings, and giving up 10 hits and 6 runs in the Beavers' 11-2 blowout loss to the 'Cats in Tucson. Though a look at his career record of 16-4 indicates that it doesn't have to be all that bad to be his "worst ever".

Still, Moore, who missed a start earlier in the season in the Northern Illinois series, after a bout with the flu, will be looking to regain his strength, the lack of which has figured into his recent less than dominating performances.

Stanford will counter with freshman RHP Cal Quantrill (3-2, 3.16 ERA). Quantrill had a quality start last Friday, going 7 innings in the Cardinal's 2-1 win over Oregon in the second game of the doubleheader, but the deciding run didn't cross the plate until there were 2 outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, so Quantrill didn't figure in the official decision.

He did allow only 6 hits, and no walks, while striking out 8, but did allow a single run. Quantrill has quickly become a Stanford workhorse, with more starts and more innings pitched entering the weekend than any one, and twice as many strikeouts, 32, as Brett Hanewich entered the weekend with.

Not unlike Oregon St. at times earlier in the season, Stanford has struggled to generate timely hits, and therefore runs, though that's happened against the toughest schedule any team in the country has faced, so their pitching numbers and won-loss record can be misleading as far as the difficulty of opponent the Beavers are up against.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com