Oregon St. Hosts Portland In Conference Play Tuneup

Oregon St. (13-3) hosts Portland (4-15) tonight at Goss Stadium. It's the last tuneup before conference play begins, not only for the Beavers, who kick off Pac-12 play Friday night at Arizona St., but also the Pilots, who will head on to San Diego to begin their West Coast Conference campaign.

The Beavers beat the Pilots 14-2 last Wednesday in Portland in the first game of the teams' annual 3 game series, which will conclude April 14th at Volcanoes' Stadium in Keizer.

The blowout on the Bluff extended the Beavers' winning streak over the Pilots to 22 in a row, the longest streak against any single opponent Oregon St. has had.

Oregon St. followed up on that win with a 4 game weekend sweep of Fresno St., bookending a Saturday doubleheader sweep in lopsided fashion with a pair of 2-1 wins, Friday night on a walk-off 11th inning home run by KJ Harrison, and Sunday punctuated by another monster home run by Gabe Clark. Harrison leads the Beavers in extra base hits, and co-leads with Clark in home runs, with 6 each, though Clark has the edge in total feet traveled, thanks to several of the longest shots seen in some time by a Beaver batter.

Andrew Moore, though he didn't get a decision, was still solid in his 10 innings against the Bulldogs, during which he struck out 10, and was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for his efforts.

Portland was swept by Arizona in Tucson, with the losses coming in scoreboard lighting up fashion, as the 'Cats took 9-4, 8-4, & 9-6 scores. The Pilots had leads in all 3 games though, and the latter 2, multiple run leads well into the contest before the 'Cats came scratching back.

OSU Game Notes.

Portland Game Notes.

Live stats.

Live streaming audio.

There will be no tv this weekend, but streaming video (no replays) will be provided.

Neither the Beavers nor the Pilots named a starting pitcher before pregame warmups. Oregon St. settled on freshman RHP Sam Tweedt (0-0, 1.98 ERA), while Portland opted for junior RHP Jordan Wilcox (0-0, 1.98 ERA).

Logan Ice will at least initially take a break from behind the plate, which means KJ Harrison can vacate first base, allowing Billy King into the lineup with his bat.

An Oregon St. win will take head coach Pat Casey to the 900 win plateau, which would be a nice benchmark before beginning Pac-12 play.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com