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Oregon St. and Portland return to Volcanoes' stadium, the home of the San Francisco Giants' A-short season team, in Keizer this evening, to try again for the neutral field leg of their annual 3 game series. The Beavers and Pilots were there back on April 14, only to have showery weather make the natural grass and dirt field unplayable.
The forecast calls for only a 30% chance of rain for tonight's 6:05 PM start.
Oregon St. took the first 2 games against Portland this season in decisive fashion, 14-2 on the bluff back on March 4, and then 12-3 at Goss Stadium 6 days later, to extend the Beavers win streak against the Pilots to 23, the largest such run of success against any single program in Oregon State history.
The 19th ranked Beavers (32-14-1, 14-9-1) took their 4th series in a row last weekend, downing Utah 3-0 and then 2-0, before playing the Utes to a 2-2 14 inning tie, called for a non-televised get-away rule in the Pac-12 that sets a 4 hour no new inning time limit that still didn't get Utah to the Portland airport in time for their flight.
The tie left Oregon St. in 5th place in the Pac-12, 3 1/2 games behind UCLA, who is on the verge of seizing the championship. But had the Beavers won, they would have vaulted into what would have been a 4 way tie for second, with Arizona St., USC, & California.
The Pilots (10-40, 5-19 in the WCC) are completing a 2 day tour of the region, and sites for neutral field games against Pac-12 opponents, having faced off with Washington St. last night in Pasco, WA. The Cougs downed the Pilots 7-3 in that one.
Last weekend, Portland was swept by Santa Clara in a West Coast Conference series.
There's no tv or video stream for the game, which is usually the game with the highest attendance of the regular season for both teams.
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Neither team settled on a starting pitcher prior to arrival at Volcanoes' Stadium, but freshman RHP Sam Tweedt (7-1, 2.83 ERA) started and dominated for Oregon St. in both of the earlier games, picking up his first 2 career wins as a starter. Tweedt got the start when it came time to fill out the lineup card.
Portland settled on junior RHP Jordan Wilcox (1-4, 6.43 ERA).
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com