It’s been a big week for the Beaver baseball program. Pat Casey secured his 800th win as the coach of OSU, the team secured a #1 national ranking from Collegiate Baseball, and they’ve won nine in a row. As the Beavs heat up, they now head back to warmer weather for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series with Arizona State.

How To Watch:

Thursday’s game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Arizona. Friday’s game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Arizona. Saturday’s game will be broadcast via a live stream provided by Arizona State.

How To Listen:

The game will be broadcast on the Beaver Sports Network. For a list of radio affiliates check here.

The Beavers:

As we mentioned, OSU was named the #1 team in America in Collegiate Baseball’s latest rankings. They also rank in the top five according to D1 Baseball, Perfect Game, Baseball America, the NCBWA, and the ESPN Coaches poll.

The Beavs are coming off of a four game sweep of Ball State at home and sit at 14-1 on the year. Their pitching has been marvelous with the starters posting a combined 1.43 ERA, 90 cumulative strikeouts, and just 18 walks with 61 hits this season. The defense has given up just 24 runs, which is the fewest in the Pac-12 by 16. Offensively, Nick Madrigal continues to be a force batting .411 on his way to a team best 23 hits and 16 runs through 15 games. Meanwhile, Michael Gretler is also starting to put together a solid year with a triple in each of the last two games.

The Sun Devils:

Lyle Lin could be a problem. The freshman from Taiwan has the third most hits in the Pac-12 right now with 24 and has reached base at least once in 15 of his first 16 collegiate games. Lin also leads the team in RBIs and hits.

Interesting Fact: Lin was selected in the 16th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners, making him the first first Taiwanese-born player to be selected in the MLB Draft.

The Sun Devils are 9-5 on the year and have the 4th best team batting average in the Pac-12 with .286. That being said, they’ve dropped series against two top ten teams already this year in #3 TCU and #10 Cal State Fullerton. From a pitching standpoint, the Thursday night duel between Luke Heimlich and ASU’s Eli Lingos (both of whom are 3-0) should be worthy of the TV time.

The Schedule:

(Game times and projected starting pitchers are subject to change)

Game 1: Thursday March 16th - 6 PM PT

LHP Eli Lingos (3-0, 2.39 ERA) vs Luke Heimlich (3-0, 0.31 ERA)

Game 2: Friday March 17th - 4 PM PT

LHP Spencer Van Scoyoc (0-0, 2.00 ERA) vs Sam Tweedt (3-0, 2.14 ERA)

Game 3: Saturday March 18th - Noon PT

RHP Ryan Hingst (0-1, 4.70 ERA) vs Jake Thompson (4-0, 1.38)

In Conclusion:

ASU looks like a talented, but inconsistent team. If their offense can get in a groove though, they might just take a game. The Beavs should still win the series though in their first conference match-up of 2017.