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Oregon St. (15-4, 1-1) takes on 19th ranked Arizona St. (11-6, 1-1) this afternoon at 1 PM AST (1 PM PDT), and the game will decide the Pac-12 season opening series. After the Beavers pulled out a 1-0 win with a run in the top of the 9th Friday night, the Sun Devils evened things with a 2 out, walk-off 4-3 win last night.
Oregon St. and Arizona St. have combined to win 8 of the last 10 Pac-10/12 titles, so its no surprise the Beavers and Sun Devils (who will actually be out in the sun today!) are at it again.
The Beavers took a 3-0 lead in their first 2 at bats last night, but couldn't come up with any insurance runs after loading the bases with 1 out in the top of the 8th, and that opened the door for the Sun Devils to tie it up in their at bat. Then, after loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th, Brian Serven served up a single to left to win the game.
The Beavers have won 11 of their last 15 conference series that have been settled in the 3rd game (usually Sundays).
The game will be on Pac-12 Arizona (due to schedule changes arising from yesterday's rainout, Civil War softball between Oregon St. and Oregon is on Pac-12 Oregon).
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Oregon St. will go with junior RHP Travis Eckert (2-0, 2.70 ERA) today, and Arizona St. will counter with junior LHP Brett Lilek (1-1, 4.91 ERA).
Both got wins in their last outings last weekend, but so far in this series, the starters have all had great outings, but none of them have figured in the decision, and there's a good chance that will be the case again. Both bullpens have also put forth pretty solid efforts as well, so any given play, or miscue, could decide the game and the series, and therefore possibly figure into a tiebreaker situation down the line.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com