Beaver Baseball: Pac-2 Baseball Series Champions

Series Recap

Friday - The Beavers got on the board early a solo home run by Gavin Turley in the 2nd inning and a bases loaded walk by Dallas Macias to build a 2-run lead through the third inning. Aiden May didn't need more than that, throwing 6.1 scoreless innings while striking out 7. May did not have a clean inning until the 5th and escaped a jam of his own making in the 1st after hitting a batter following a base hit. Nonetheless, the combination of May’s good work and Joey Mundt’s 1.2 scoreless innings of bridge work a 2-0 lead was passed to Bridger Holmes for the 9th. He got two quick outs before the walls started to close in. A series of walks and hit batters allowed the Cougars to get within one, and anther hit by pitch loaded the bases before Holmes struck out Cole Cramer in a tense 9 pitch at-bat to give the Beavs the series opener.

Saturday - Turley got the scoring with a sac fly in the first inning for the Beavers in game two, and it was a downhill slide from there. Washington State delivered clutch hit after clutch hit against Jacob Kmatz, who struck out 7 over 5 innings. The Cougs hit .363 with runners in scoring position against Kmatz, including a two-run dinger by Joey Kramer to stake a 5-1 lead. Thins got worse in the 8th as AJ Hutcheson and Matthew Morrell combined to allow 3 singles, 2 walks, and a hit batter and the WSU lead stretched to 10-2. Those runs came back to sting even moreso as the Beaver bats exploded in the top of the 9th, pulling to within a run before a pair of groundouts brought OSU up short.

Sunday - Once again the Beavers got started early in the rubber match, this time courtesy of a trademark Travis Bazzana leadoff home run. The blast over the right field wall set a new single season home run record at Oregon State, breaking Jim Wilson’s record of 21 that has stood for 42 years. Bazzana did not stop there, going yard two more times as part of a 10 run onslaught by the Beaver offense that gave some cushion to Eric Segura and the pitching staff. Nelson Keljo was particularly effective, throwing 3 innings of one run ball to cover for Segura’s struggles the third time through the WSU order and keep the game in hand.

What We Learned

Series wins are always a good thing, but the Beavers still lost a half game in the Pac-12 race after Arizona’s sweep of Stanford at home. The Wildcats head to Salt Lake City next week for a big series against Utah before welcoming the Beavers to Tuscon for the regular season finale. Outside of the Pac-12 race, the Beavers are still sitting on the fringes of a top-8 national seed in the tournament. A strong showing to end the season will solidify that, while an uneven performance over the next 3 weeks will bring tougher regional competition and likely a difficult road trip assuming they can reach a super-regional.

It took the better part of two games, but the Beaver bats seem to have broken out of their slump. OSU collected 12 hits in each of the series final two games and scored 19 runs in those two outings. Both Micah McDowell and Brady Kasper seem to be fully back into form, Kasper has started the last 10 games in the field, and McDowell was roaming centerfield in Sunday’s game after DH’ing the first two. The pair combined to go 6-for-15 in those final two games. Mason Guerra’s struggles continued, but the return of the two upper classmen allowed Mitch Canham to move Guerra down in the lineup. Jabin Trosky has been close to a regular at 3B the last two series, a spot which will be filled by Trent Caraway assuming he can find his way back to the field. Next weekend will be the 8th week since his hand injury came with an expected 4-8 week recovery timeline. Hopefully he is close enough to get a few at-bats before a crucial Arizona series two weeks from now.

Batting Line of the Week

Travis Bazzana Batting Line - 15 PA, .556/.733/1.667, 3 HR, 4 RBI

And that's the end of that slump. Bazzana reached base 3 or more times in every game of the series and went absolutely bonkers in Sunday’s game when the Beavers desperately needed to clinch the series. Two of his home runs on Sunday came in 3-0 counts. Washington State forgot about the threat and just tried to get balls over, which was some poor scouting since Bazzana has been known to get aggressive in those counts in the past. He may not win the Golden Spikes (Charlie Condon of Georgia is putting together one of the greatest hitting seasons in the history of college baseball on the other side of the country), but Bazzana getting hot now does wonders for the Beavs.

Non-Travis Bazzana Batting Line: Micah McDowell - 15 PA, .455/.600/.636, 0 HR, 2 RBI

McDowell was the Beavers second best hitter before he went down in late March. Getting fully back up to speed has been difficult for the 5th year senior, but it looked this weekend like he is rounding back into form. Both his spot in the 2 hole of the lineup, and his coverage of centerfield allow the coaching staff to work with some of the cold bats and find the right matchups lower down the order. It also allows Turley to move a little farther down the order, which fits his big power and tendency to strike out a bit better than the second slot where he has been for the last few weeks.

Pitching Line of the Week

Nelson Keljo - 1 APP, 3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 6 K, 0 BB

Being one of two lefties in the bullpen, Keljo has a key role to play every weekend. He has transcended the lefty relief role the last two weekends, crossing the 40-pitch mark in each of his last two outings, and covering 3+ innings in both. Oregon State needs relievers outside of Holmes to step up in clutch situations and Keljo did that this weekend.

Pac-12 Power Rankings

Arizona has put themselves in the driver's seat for the regular season title with a sweep of Stanford this weekend. Oregon’s series win against Utah brings the Utes to 2 full games back to the Wildcats in the standings. It is looking at this point like the Pac-12 will be a 4-bid league when it comes tournament time. Oregon State, Arizona, and Oregon are all ranked in the top 25, and Utah would certainly jump back in with a series win against Arizona. Outside of that a strong finish by Cal may put them back into the mix, but a 14-13 record in conference likely won't be enough to get it done.

1. (NC) Oregon State. Won series @ Washington State 2-1 (21-17)
2. (NC) Arizona. Swept Stanford at home 3-0 (24-10)
3. (Up 1) Oregon. Won series vs Utah 2-1 (19-15)
4. (Down 1) Utah. Lost series @ Oregon 1-2 (15-19)
5. (NC) California. Won series @ USC 2-1 (18-12)
6. (NC) Arizona State. Won series vs Washington 2-1 (41-39)
7. (Up 1) Washington. Lost series @ Arizona State 1-2 (39-41)
8. (Down 1) Stanford. Swept at home by Arizona 0-3 (10-24)
9. (NC) USC. Lost series vs California 1-2 (12-18)
10. (NC) Washington State. Lost series vs Oregon State 1-2 (17-21)
11. (NC) UCLA. Won series vs Cal State Fullerton 2-1 (16-7)