OSU Ranked No. 6 As Portland Visits For Tuesday Game
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State jumped four spots to No. 6 in this week’s USA Today/ESPN baseball coaches poll. The Beavers (28-9 overall, 9-3 Pacific-10) moved into first place in the Pac-10 standings over the weekend by sweeping a series at California. The No. 6 ranking equals OSU’s highest position of the season in the poll, which came in the coaches’ preseason rankings.
OSU opens an eight-game homestand when it hosts Portland (12-27, 2-10 West Coast) on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. The game can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area and KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, and live via subscription on the internet at www.osubeavers.com.
The Beavers then play a four-game non-conference weekend, meeting Cal Poly on Thursday at 5 p.m., New Mexico on Friday at 5 p.m., Cal Poly on Saturday at 4 p.m. and New Mexico on Sunday at 1 p.m. In addition, Cal Poly will play New Mexico at the OSU ballpark on Saturday at 12 noon.
There are approximately 500 tickets remaining for Tuesday’s game against Portland, and they will be on sale Tuesday from 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the OSU athletic ticket office in Gill Coliseum Room 107 or by phone at 1-800-GO BEAVS. Any remaining tickets will go on sale at the ballpark at 2 p.m.
OSU students have until Wednesday at 12 noon to pick up their tickets for this weekend’s games; any remaining tickets will go on sale Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the OSU athletic ticket office in Gill Coliseum Room 107 or by phone at 1-800-GO BEAVS.
Oregon State has won seven straight games and 16 of its last 18, and the Beavers have won six in a row in Pac-10 play. Among OSU’s regulars, junior outfielder Cole Gillespie is batting .367 with seven home runs and 27 runs batted in, senior first baseman Bill Rowe is batting .358 with two homers and 27 RBIs, sophomore shortstop Darwin Barney is batting .338 with 18 RBIs, senior third baseman Shea McFeely is batting .315 with one homer and 31 RBIs, senior second baseman Chris Kunda is batting .306 with 21 RBIs, and sophomore catcher Mitch Canham is batting .286 with five homers and 22 RBIs.
On the mound, junior righthander Dallas Buck is 8-0 with a 3.09 earned run average and has won his last 13 decisions dating back to the middle of the 2005 season, and junior righthander Jonah Nickerson is 7-3 with a 2.35 ERA and has earned the win in each of his last five starts. Junior lefthander Kevin Gunderson is 1-1 with 12 saves and a 1.63 ERA after picking up the save in all three wins at Cal over the weekend.
Among the Pac-10 leaders through Sunday’s games, in batting average Gillespie is seventh and Rowe is 10th, in slugging percentage Gillespie is third (.656) and Rowe is ninth (.558), in on-base percentage Gillespie is third (.497) and Rowe is 10th (.451), in runs scored Gillespie is second (47), in homers Gillespie is seventh, and in stolen bases Barney is sixth (10) and Gillespie is seventh (nine).
Among the Pac-10 leaders in earned run average, Nickerson is fourth, sophomore righthander Mike Stutes is sixth (2.86) and Buck is eighth; in opponents’ batting average, Buck is fifth (.208) and Stutes is ninth (.247); in strikeouts Nickerson is eighth (60); in wins Buck is second and Nickerson is tied for third; and in saves Gunderson is first.
In the other national rankings released Monday, OSU moved up four places to fifth in the Baseball America magazine rankings and rose seven spots to No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll; the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll was unavailable as of Monday evening.
Portland has dropped five straight going into Tuesday’s game after being swept at home by St. Mary’s last weekend by scores of 16-3, 4-1 and 6-5. OSU has won both meetings with Portland this season by scores of 3-1 in Corvallis and 14-9 in Portland, giving the Beavers an all-time record of 140-59 in the series against the Pilots that began in 1909.
