Oregon and Oregon St. resume their baseball Civil War this evening at 6 PM at Goss Stadium, with the first of two non-conference contests of the season. The Ducks took 2 of 3 games about a month ago, to win the series that counts in the Pac-12 standings at P.K. Park, but the Beavers continue to have he better Pac-12 and overall record.
The series win pulled the Ducks within 13 wins of the Beavers in the 329 times played rivalry.
Oregon St. (29-14, 12-9) has taken all 3 of their series 2 games to 1 since then, including this past weekend in Seattle, when the Beavers recorded a 4-1 win Saturday night over the Huskies. As a result, they have moved into the 22nd spot in the D1baseball.com rankings.
Oregon (27-20, 9-12) proceeded to drop their next series, to USC, but added a single win over against Portland of the WCC, and took their last 2 series in 2-1 fashion, over Washington and Stanford.
The Pac-12 Network will be on hand to televise the game.
Oregon St. will start freshman RHP Sam Tweedt (6-1, 3.41 ERA), who has been the mid-week starter of choice for much of the season for Oregon St. head coach Pat Casey, and has also performed well out of the bullpen in some weekend outings for the Beavers.
Oregon will counter with junior RHP Josh Graham (2-0, 1 save, 1.83 ERA), who doubles as a catcher for the Ducks. It will be the 2nd start in 15 appearances for the native Oregonian.
At this point, Oregon St. projects to probably garner the Pac-12's final post season berth, with Oregon probably on the outside looking in, but both teams can still play their way in or out of the tournament during the month of May stretch drive. These last 2 non-conference Civil War contests could be as significant a factor as anything all season in that regard for both teams.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com