Coming off a weekend series win over USC and a mid-week defeat of the Ducks, OSU will host the Cal Golden Bears this weekend for a 3 game set at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

How To Watch:

This weekends games will air on Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Bay Area.

How To Listen:

The game will be broadcast on the Beaver Sports Network and Beaver Nation Online.

Find the radio station carrying the game in your area here.

The Beavers:

Once again the consensus #1 team Oregon State was led by superb pitching in each of their wins this past week. While we expect nothing less from Luke Heimlich and Jake Thompson, the gem pitched by Jordan Britton on Tuesday versus Oregon caught some people off guard. When asked by Danny Moran of the Oregonian, whether he expected that kind of performance from the sophomore, Pat Casey responded "If I said I did, I would probably have to go to confessional." Britton had pitched only 4.1 innings coming into Tuesday’s start, where he tossed 5 ²⁄₃ while only giving up one run. The performance of Britton and last weekend’s return of Drew Rasmussen should bolster and already impressive OSU pitching staff.

Sunday’s win over USC saw a much needed offensive explosion from OSU, as the Beavs scored 10 runs, including a 6 run 8th inning. The Beavers are still struggling to capitilize with runners on base, a trend that will hopefully be remedied this weekend as the Golden Bears have not been impressive on the mound this season. Look for Steven Kwan to continue his current hot streak, the sophomore outfielder is batting .419 in the past 10 games including a 4 game hit streak.

The Golden Bears:

Cal sits in 3rd place in the Pac-12 standings, half a game behind Stanford and 6 games back of the Beavs. The Golden Bears have been led by an offense that is hitting .287 while hitting a Pac-12 leading 34 home runs. The biggest threat to OSU pitching will be Freshman first baseman Andrew Vaughn, whose .355 batting average and 12 home runs has him as the favorite for Pac-12 Freshman Of The Year, and in contention for the national award as well.

The pitching for Cal has been far less impressive than their bats, as the currently rank near the bottom in the conference in most pitching stats. The Golden Bears starting pitching has been adequate, and should be able to keep them in most games, but their bullpen outside of closer Erik Martinez has struggled mightily this season.

Here’s a look at the numbers for this weekend’s matchup:

The Schedule:

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

Friday May 5th - 7:00 PM PT

Jared Horn (3-4 3.77 ERA) vs Luke Heimlich (6-1, 0.78 ERA)

Saturday May 6th - 1:30 PM PT

Joey Matulovich (4-1 4.87) vs Bryce Fehmel (4-2, 3.92 ERA)

Sunday May 7th - 12:00 PM PT

Matt Ladrech (2-1 2.83) vs Jake Thompson (9-0, 1.07 ERA)

Note: There have been rumors of a change to the rotation for OSU, but nothing confirmed. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Thompson and Fehmel switch spots.

Conclusion

As long as the OSU pitching staff performs to the level they have been the entire season, the Beavs should get the series win, and will have a great chance at a sweep if the offense can take advantage of Cal’s sub-par pitching.