The Oregon State Beavers head a few hours north this weekend to play at T-Mobile Park (formerly Safeco Field) in Seattle, Washington for the Seattle Baseball Showcase. The Beavs will play three games against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Indiana Hoosiers, and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. At 10-1, the Beavs still very much look like a top ten team, as evidenced by every national ranking where the Beavs can be found anywhere between #1 and #7...

...Rankings are weird.

Regardless, this is going to be a fun weekend: an MLB stadium, a chance for Beavs fans in the 206 to catch the defending champions, and some fantastic matchups. On top of the teams that the Beavs are playing, this event will also include the Washington Huskies and University of San Diego...I want to say whales...?

* does quick google search *

Torrerros...I knew that. Anyway, let’s talk about what to expect from the Beavs and their opponents this weekend.

Minnesota (Friday)

I think it’s safe to say that we expected a little more out of Minnesota at this point in the year. The Gophers 2-8 on the year after winning the Big Ten and a regional that they hosted last season. They won against Gonzaga on opening day, then lost four straight before taking one against the always-tough Dallas Baptist squad, but have lost four straight since. As a team, the Gophers are batting .228 on the year. The Beavs and the Gophers actually met back in February in Arizona when OSU won 13-1. Gig Harbor native Patrick Fredrickson will likely get the start in his home state against OSU. He’s had a rough start to the year as the below stats indicate.

Indiana (Saturday)

The Hoosiers are probably a better team than their 6-5 record would indicate. They ran into a buzzsaw at Tennessee where they dropped three straight, plus a road loss at Memphis and a road loss at #11 Coastal Carolina. The latter was only by a run. They did beat a ranked UConn team in a neutral site game and right fielder Matt Gorski was named last week’s Big Ten player of the week. He’s probably their biggest weapon with a .344 batting average, four homers, and twelve RBIs. On the mound, the Beavs will likely face freshman Tanner Gordon to start who has a K count of 12, two losing decisions, and an ERA of 5.84 through 12.1 innings of work.

Coastal Carolina (Sunday)

The Chanticleers, who you may remember as the 2016 national champions, look legit once again this year. The #19 team in the nation according to Baseball America, CCU are 12-2 on the year and the winners of five straight. Their only two losses were an extra innings L to also-ranked NC State and 5-8 game at the College of Charleston.

Sophomore lefty Garrett McDaniels will probably be the starter on the mound against Oregon State. He’s admittedly been a mixed bag this season.

Offense is probably where this team shines though. Last weekend, they had at least ten hits in each of their three games, all of which they won. I also give them points because they clearly know where to find the best fries in all of the PNW.

Conclusion

Coastal Carolina will probably be the best litmus test of where OSU is in this young season. Minnesota and Indiana are still figuring things out, while the Beavs seem to be about 80% there. The pitching should once again hold up and it seems like the Sunday game against West Virginia was something of an anomaly. Two out of three games is a reasonable expectation for the weekend.a reasonab

Schedule

• Game 1: Friday, March 8th - 3:00 PM PT
• Game 2: Saturday, March 9th - 3:00 PM PT
• Game 3: Sunday, March 10th - 3:00 PM PT

How to Watch

Games 1 and 2 will not be televised or streamed. Game 3 will be streamed on the Pac-12’s website here.

How to Listen

For a full list of radio stations across the state that will carry the games, check the game notes provided by OSU athletics. OSUBeavers.com will also have the audio all weekend on TuneIn.

Stats

Click the link here to follow live stats of the series.

Side note, if you’re looking for tickets, there are still plenty available.