No. 9 OSU Gets Back To Pac-10 Play At Stanford - Oregon State University Athletics

TUESDAY, APRIL 24

No. 9 Oregon State 10, at Portland 1

FRIDAY, APRIL 27

No. 9 Oregon State at Stanford, 7 p.m.

RADIO: Live on KEJO-AM (1240) in Corvallis area; live on KUIK-AM (1360) in Portland area; live on KKNX-AM (840) in Eugene area; live on KICE-AM (940) in Bend area.

TELEVISION: Live on CSTV; check local listings.

INTERNET AUDIO: Live via subscription on Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com. INTERNET STATISTICS: Live at www.osubeavers.com.

SATURDAY, APRIL 28

No. 9 Oregon State at Stanford, 1 p.m.

RADIO: Live on KEJO-AM (1240) in Corvallis area; live on KUIK-AM (1360) in Portland area; live on KKNX-AM (840) in Eugene area; live on KICE-AM (940) in Bend area.

TELEVISION: Live on FSN; check local listings.

INTERNET AUDIO: Live via subscription on Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com. INTERNET STATISTICS: Live at www.osubeavers.com.

SUNDAY, APRIL 29

No. 9 Oregon State at Stanford, 12:30 p.m.

RADIO: Live on KEJO-AM (1240) in Corvallis area; delay at 3 p.m. on KUIK-AM (1360) in Portland area; live on KKNX-AM (840) in Eugene area; live on KICE-AM (940) in Bend area.

INTERNET AUDIO: Live via subscription on Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com. INTERNET STATISTICS: Live at www.osubeavers.com.

Oregon State gets back into the Pacific-10 baseball race this weekend, and the ninth-ranked Beavers will do it against one of the nation’s traditional powers. OSU (32-8 overall, 4-5 Pacific-10) will visit Stanford (16-21, 2-10) on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in a conference series at the Cardinal’s Sunken Diamond.

“Stanford is one of the top programs in the country, and it’s always going to be a challenge to play them – especially in their own ballpark,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “No matter what that record looks like, they’re a very dangerous team. Their early Pac-10 schedule has included most of the top teams in the conference, and a lot of those losses have been close games that may have turned on a play or two.

“They had their struggles early a year ago, too, but they came back over the last part of the season and developed into a Super Regional team. For us to have success this weekend, we have to play as well as we’ve played at any point this season – if not better.”

Oregon State has won nine of its last 11 games, including four of its last six in the Pac-10. The Beavers have won five straight after sweeping Nevada-Las Vegas in a non-conference series last weekend and winning at Portland 10-1 on Tuesday.

On the strength of its pitching and defense, OSU has limited opponents to three or fewer runs in 24 of its 40 games thus far this season. The Beavers rank second in the Pac-10 - and the nation - in fielding percentage at .9790964, trailing only Arizona State’s .979235.

Oregon State’s team earned run average of 3.04 tops the Pac-10 and ranks eighth nationally, built on the efforts of such arms as junior righthander Mike Stutes (9-1 record, 2.36 ERA), junior lefthander Joe Paterson (6-4, 3.42), junior righthander Daniel Turpen (7-1, 3.78), freshman righthander Jorge Reyes (2-0, 2.30), junior righthander Eddie Kunz (2-0, 7 saves, 2.05) and sophomore righthander Mark Grbavac (0-1, 3 saves, 2.35).

At the plate, pacing OSU have been junior catcher Mitch Canham (.370 batting average, 8 home runs, 45 runs batted in), junior first baseman Jordan Lennerton (.365, 4, 33), senior outfielder Mike Lissman (.318, 4, 39) and junior shortstop Darwin Barney (.301, 1, 34).

Stanford was to play host to Fresno State on Wednesday night before beginning the series against OSU. The Cardinal lost to San Jose State 11-8 in a home game on Tuesday; last weekend, Stanford dropped a Pac-10 series at California, losing 3-0, winning 4-3 and losing 13-5.

The Cardinal have been led at the plate by junior infielder Adam Sorgi (.358, 0, 12), sophomore outfielder Sean Ratliff (.313, 6, 20) and sophomore outfielder Joey August (.303, 1, 18). The mainstays in the Stanford pitching rotation have been sophomore lefthander Jeremy Bleich (1-7, 5.32), freshman righthander Jeffrey Inman (3-2, 5.72) and junior righthander Nolan Gallagher (2-5, 7.47).

For the entire OSU baseball weekly release, view the PDF file accompanying this page.