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The Beavers are 10-1 and climbing in the rankings after a perfect home opening weekend (record wise, not so much weather wise). The Beavs look to stay perfect at Goss as they host a four game set with the Ball State Cardinals out of Indiana.
How To Watch:
No TV, but you can catch the games streaming all weekend on OSUBeavers.com for free.
How To Listen:
The game will be broadcast on the Beaver Sports Network. For a list of radio affiliates check here.
Note: With the men’s basketball season coming to an end yesterday, this weekend could mark the return of Mike Parker to the radio broadcast.
The Beavers:
The Beavers are red hot sitting at 10-1 coming off a sweep of UC Davis last weekend in Corvallis. The unanimous top 5 team in the nation, ranked as high as #3 by Collegiate Baseball, have benefited from spectacular pitching from the entire staff, holding opponents to a paltry .195 batting average while ranking second nationally in ERA (1.36) and WHIP (0.95). There was a small surprise in the rotation last weekend when Jake Thompson started over Bryce Fehmel, I would suspect Fehmel will start today to allow the rest of the starters to pitch on normal rest.
The Beaver offense continued its strong start to the season outscoring the UC Davis Aggies by a score of 22-3. Nick Madrigal has lived up to the preseason hype leading the Beavs in most statistical categories while batting leadoff. The Beavs hope to get Elliot Cary back into the lineup this week, Cary missed last weekends series while recovering from injury.
The next OSU win will mark the 800th win of Pat Casey’s OSU tenure, Casey has the most wins of any coach in OSU history, regardless of sport.
The Cardinals:
The Ball State Cardinals come in to Corvallis with an 8-4 record on the season. The Cardinals have faced some tough opponents so far beating #22 Maryland and falling to #6 Louisville and #18 Coastal Carolina, their most recent game was an 4-1 win over Boston College on Tuesday. The Beavs and Ball State have only played each other once previously, a Beaver win in Surprise, Arizona a season ago.
The Cardinals have been lead to their 8-4 record by a solid pitching staff with a combined ERA of 2.57. Meanwhile the Ball State offense has hit .255 with 18 doubles and 3 home runs.
Notable Ball State Alumni:
David Letterman-The greatest late night host of all-time
John Schnatter- Founder of Pap John’s Pizza
Jim Davis- Creator of Garfield
The Schedule:
(Game times and projected starting pitchers are subject to change)
Game 1: Thursday March 9th-5:35 PM PT
RHP BJ Butler (1-1 1.45 ERA) vs Bryce Fehmel (1-1 4.09 ERA)
Game 2: Friday March 10th-5:35 PM PT
RHP Evan Marquardt (2-1 2.76 ERA) vs Luke Heimlich (2-0 0.44 ERA)
Game 3: Saturday March 11th-1:35 PM PT
RHP Colin Brockhouse (2-1 1.04 ERA) vs Sam Tweedt (3-0 2.16 ERA)
Game 4: Saturday March 11th-4:35 PM PT
LHP Kevin Marnon (2-1 3-57 ERA) vs Jake Thompson (3-0 1.45 ERA)
In Conclusion
Ball State will be no easy win for OSU but the Beavs have been the better team so far this year and should be able to take care of business this weekend in their last series before Pac-12 play begins.