Beaver Baseball Facing Big Tests in Texas

Early season matchups against top-ranked opponents are exciting regardless of the sport. For the first time in recent memory, Oregon State baseball brings that excitement with a trip to Texas for the second week of the Kubota College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. There, OSU will face off against multiple top 25 opponents and regional contenders, including a rematch of the legendary 2018 College World Series final against Arkansas. We learned something about this Beaver team last week in Suprise, we are going to learn a whole lot more over the next few days.

---

What We Learned Last Week

Oregon State overpowered the opposition in Arizona to start the year, confirming that there is plenty of power in the 2024 Beaver lineup. The Beavers launched 14 home runs over 4 games with four players hitting multiple balls out of the yard. Travis Bazzana picked up where he left off in the Cape Cod league, going 9-for-16 with 3 home runs and two stolen bases. Freshman Trent Caraway came as advertised, picking up 8 hits in 16 at bats, with half of those hits going for extra bases.

• How far along are Jacob Kmatz and Jaren Hunter in building back up from injury? Kmatz had control issues early that kept him from getting into a rhythm. He walked 4 hitters in his first 2 innings of work, which was more the reason for his 3-inning outing than his pitch count of 66. Freshman Eric Segura got the Sunday start, while Hunter followed him on Monday. Similar control issues plagued Hunter, who walked 3 in 4 innings, but still worked up to 69 pitches. The workload seems on track for both Kmatz and Hunter, who will need to get that feel and control back quickly. It's unlikely Arkansas is going to leave 17 runners on base the way Minnesota did last weekend.
• Who gets the starts at DH? The Beavers faced three left-handed starters in their 4 games in Suprise, which gave righty Tyce Peterson a couple opportunities early. He delivered with 2 home runs in his two starts. The DH spot was used for regulars on Sunday and Monday, with Jacob Kreig (1B) and Dallas Macias (LF) getting starts in the field. Each picked up a hit in their starts (and more in pinch hit appearances throughout the weekend). It remains to be seen what the plan is against multiple right-handed starters, but we should find out this week.

• Which relievers get multiple appearances? Oregon State showed off the depth of the pitching staff this weekend and no pitcher went out for a second outing in Suprise. A total of 17 pitchers found the mound over the weekend. As mentioned earlier, the freshman Segura got the Sunday start and thew 5 innings, allowing 2 runs and striking out 4 with no walks. The highlight of the weekend was Joey Mundt pitching an inning of work after two years of work recovering from injuries.

---

What We Are Watching

The Beavers get the weekend started early, with a Wednesday game against Texas Tech, before the traditional Friday-Sunday slate. The weekend games will be broadcast on FloSports.

• Texas Tech - Wednesday - Feb 19th @ 12:00 PM PT
• Arkansas: Friday - Feb 21st @ 5:00 PM PT
• Michigan: Saturday - Feb 22nd @ 1:00 PM PT
• Oklahoma State: Sunday - Feb 23rd @ 3:00 PM PT

Arkansas is currently ranked #2 in the country by D1 Baseball, while Texas Tech sits at 21. Both are the highest ranked teams that the Beavers are currently scheduled to play this year (UCLA is the highest ranked Pac-12 team after OSU, coming in 22nd). Two games don't make or break a season, particularly non-conference ones, but they will provide a measuring stick to evaluate the team before conference play begins. The weekend slate here is better than your average regional, so a 3-1 weekend should be considered a success.

• What is the bullpen pecking order? Three of the four games last weekend were decided by 5 or more runs, and the one that wasn't was partially due to the pitching staff putting so many runners on base. Outside of Kyle Scott as closer and Nelson Keljo/Tyler Mejia being the only lefty arms the roles in the bullpen are still unclear. With at least some of the four games this weekend likely to be close, and the starters not yet stretched out to go 7-8 innings, we should see more of who is trusted to bridge that gap to the end of the game.
• Who gets the Sunday start? My money would be on Segura getting the nod against Oklahoma State. It would be strange if the coaching staff started Hunter with less than a full week’s rest when they could have started him on Sunday last week, and Segura held his own in his start. If that holds, we could see the makings of the weekend rotation coming out of week 2, and a deeper weekday rotation with Hunter.

• How much does home run power translate against power conference arms? Oregon State is currently on track to hit 192 home runs this year after their performance in Suprise. Basing your power numbers off what you do in the desert is clearly not a good idea. Basing that projection off of facing the weekend rotations of playoff-caliber opponents is a far better way to do that. Nine different Beavers went yard last weekend, which shows great depth. It would not be surprising to see some guys at the bottom of the order continue to drive the ball while opposing pitchers are focused on the top half of the lineup.

---

Opponent Breakdown

These sections will be more streamlined starting next week when we get into weekend series. Oregon State’s info is the same as last week.

Tim Tadlock took over for former Oregon State assistant Dan Spencer back in 2013 and has turned the Red Raiders into a Big 12 force. They have hosted all 5 super regionals they have played in, most recently in 2021. They are coming off of a somewhat disappointing 2023, going 12-12 in conference play before getting bounced from the Gainsville regional by Florida. This is Texas Tech’s second straight weekend at Globe Life Field. They went 3-1 in last week's competition, including an 11-7 win over Oregon.

Player to Watch - 1B Gavin Kash: Kash brings serious power to the middle of the lineup with 26 home runs a year ago to go along with a .326 batting average. He had a slow start last week, going just 1-for-13 with 7 strikeouts, but will be ready to go against the Beavers in a mid-week game.

Arkansas is as good as they come in college baseball and is coming into this game against Oregon State with a massive chip on their shoulders. They were bounced from their home regional last year after giving up a combined 32 runs to TCU over two games, and still harbor pains from the 2018 College World Series, when a dropped foul ball let the Beavers back into the game and the series.

Player to Watch - SP Hagen Smith: I am working off the assumption Arkansas will throw out their normal weekend rotation and OSU will face the lefty Friday starter in Smith. The junior can get his fastball into triple digits with a slider and splitter to go along with it. He was tagged by James Madison in his first start of the year for 3 runs in one inning of work, but his 71.2 innings with a 3.64 ERA and 109 strikeouts from last year is a better gauge of the caliber of pitcher the Beavers will see. Doing damage against Smith and the Arkansas staff will be a great sign for what this lineup can accomplish this year.

Michigan made regionals 5 times in the 10 years under former coach Eric Bakich, who departed in 2023 for the warmer climate of Clemson. Tracy Smith took over last year and guided the Wolverines to a middling result in the Big Ten. The lineup is shaping up to be solid this year and averaged 9.25 runs per game in their season opening series against Western Michigan. The pitching staff will need to keep up, they gave up double digit runs in their two losses last week before recovering to split the series.

Player to Watch - CF Jonathan Kim: The Wolverines sophomore centerfielder is coming off a freshman year where he put up a .322/.379/.479 line as a freshman. He is a contact-oriented hitter but has improved his batting eye already this year. His 5 walks in the opening weekend gets him halfway to the total of 10 he picked up all of last year. Former Beaver Kyle Dernedde is also a member of this Michigan team and will be holding down at shortstop.

Brother of MLB All-Star Matt Holliday and uncle of current #1 overall MLB prospect Jackson and top 2025 draft prospect Ethan, head coach Josh Holliday comes from a family as part of baseball royalty as any. He has led the Cowboys to a regional in all but two of his seasons at the helm and is a popular pick to do so again in 2024. They are similar to Oregon State (not only in color scheme and acronyms) with a powerful lineup and a pitching staff they are looking to slot into place. They dropped two-of-three to Sam Houston State to open up the season, and will need a good weekend coming up to keep some panic from starting to set in.

Player to Watch - LF Nolan Schubart: Another in the line of major power bats the Beavers pitching staff will see, Schubart had 17 home runs last year to go along with a 16% walk rate. He is an imposing presence at 6’5” and 227 pounds, and the lefty will have his share of opposite handed pitching to face in this Oregon State staff that carries a total of two.