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Fresh off last night's 3-2 upset win over 7th ranked UCLA, Oregon St. will be looking to take the series, with tonight's 7 PM PDT rematch at Jackie Robinson Stadium their first of 2 opportunities to do so.
It wouldn't be a huge surprise, as the Beavers have taken the series from the Bruins the last 4 years in a row, including sweeping last season. And Oregon St. (22-7, 5-2) would be solidly in the top 25, instead of sitting somewhere just outside of it, had they not had a couple of bad games against Cal-Poly last weekend.
But UCLA (21-6, 8-2) had won 8 in a row, and 10 of 11 before encountering Andrew Moore and Luke Heimlich last night, and still co-lead the Pac-12 conference with Arizona St.
It's a huge game in the tightening conference race, where Arizona and California trail by only 1 game, and Oregon St. and USC sit only 1 1/2 games back. All 6 teams atop the race have already attained the 20 win level this season.
The entire series will be seen on the Pac-12 National, Oregon, and Southern California channels.
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Oregon St. will go with freshman RHP Drew Rasmussen (3-1, 1.91 ERA) tonight. Rasmussen suffered his first loss of the season in 9 outings, and 5 starts last Saturday, giving up 6 hits and 4 walks, and 4 of Cal-Poly's runs in the Mustangs' 7-2 upset of the Beavers. He did work well into the 8th inning.
The week before, Rasmussen threw a perfect game at Washington St.
UCLA will counter with senior LHP Grant Wilson (4-2, 1.76 ERA). Wilson led the Pac-12 in ERA, at least until the Beavers Andrew Moore got through with throttling the Bruins last night, which moved his ERA down to 1.63.
Look for another pitching duel tonight!
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com