Oregon Baseball: Previewing the Civil War

With Pac-12 regular season title hopes on the line, the Ducks will head to Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Oregon, to finish off the Civil War with three more games against Oregon State.

What’s Happened So Far

• April 24th: Oregon State def. Oregon, 7-1
• May 8th: Oregon def. Oregon State, 3-2

Both teams split the first two games at Eugene. The Ducks’ Jordan Spencer and the Beavers’ Taylor Starr started both games, and they had completely different experiences in both. Spencer gave up four earned runs in two innings of work in the first meeting, and Starr gave up three runs and five hits in the first 2.2 innings in the second meeting.

The first game came on the heels of two straight losses for Oregon when they took on Washington State. After that three game skid, the Ducks have won 15 of their last 16 games, and are currently on a nine-game winning streak.

This Weekend’s Schedule

• FRIDAY – 5:35pm (PT)
  Probable starters: Alex Keudell (10-3, 1.80) vs Ben Wetzler (6-2, 3.30)
• SATURDAY – 1:05pm (PT) | TV: Root Sports Northwest
  Probable starters: Jake Reed (6-3, 3.06) vs Jace Fry (5-3, 2.47)
• SUNDAY – 1:05pm (PT)
  Probable starters: Jeff Gold (8-3, 3.26) vs Dan Child (6-3, 2.80)

Oregon State is currently in sixth place in the Pac-12 conference at 15-12 in the conference, 35-18 overall. Being four games back of the leading Ducks (42-14, 19-8), dropping the game Saturday against Washington State gave them no chance to contend for the title this weekend. Even with that, the Beavers are ranked in the majority of the polls. They are still playing to try and improve where there destination will be for the regionals in the NCAA Tournament.

Oregon will be playing to host one of the eight regional sites. Some of the other contenders are Pac-12 opponent UCLA who takes on rival USC this weekend, Florida State, North Carolina, Baylor, Texas A&M, Rice, and Cal State Fullerton. A large amount of SEC teams will be contending as well, including Florida, LSU, South Carolina, and Kentucky.

UCLA may be the only real contender to get one of the eight sides, but there are five teams in the Pac-12 ranked in the top 16, according to the Baseball America poll (Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford).

What to Watch For

• Last season, Oregon State had a one-game lead on Arizona entering this series in Eugene. The Beavers got swept, and the Wildcats won the conference. Oregon currently has a one-game lead on Arizona.
• The Beavers have been hot on offense as of late. They have had three games of double-digit runs in the last seven games, have scored five or more runs in seven of their last nine games, and have hit 11 home runs in the last three weeks. In comparison, the Ducks have only had 27 home runs on the season.
• Oregon’s Aaron Jones continues to play well after his injury, hitting .444 last week. Pitching, especially the bullpen, continues to consistently prevent anyone to score.
• Oregon State usually goes by the way of left fielder Michael Conforto. He has the school’s single-season RBI record of 69 and the team has gone 24-5 when he gets at least one RBI.
• OSU head coach Pat Casey needs just one more win to become the most winningest coach in the school’s history, surpassing Jack Riley. He currently sits at 613 victories.

Follow Brian Spaen on Twitter @Spaeniard and what’s happening in Autzen Zoo @Autzen_Zoo. Please like us on Facebook below.

Also take a look at his lacrosse blog, Around the Crease, and commentary on anything at The World of Santa Destroy.