No. 25 OSU Makes Its Adjustments - Oregon State University Athletics

Oregon State spent Thursday acclimating itself to new surroundings as the Beavers got ready to open the NCAA Charlottesville Regional baseball tournament. The 25th-ranked Beavers (38-17), the defending national champions, begin the four-team, double-elimination event against Rutgers (41-19) on Friday at 5 p.m. PDT; host seventh-ranked Virginia (43-14) and Lafayette (33-18) begin the tourney at 1 p.m. PDT.

OSU’s games in the tournament can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area and KMED-AM (1440) in the Medford area. Live audio is available via subscription on the internet through Beaver Nation Online at . Live stats are available at www.ncaasports.com.

The Beavers spent all day Wednesday en route to Charlottesville, arriving around 9:30 p.m. On Thursday, OSU went through a warm, humid 75-minute practice in the early afternoon at Virginia’s Davenport Field, the site of the tournament, then were treated to a barbecue at the ballpark.

The three-hour time change in the Eastern time zone isn’t a first for OSU this season – the Beavers spent the first five weekends of the season in five different time zones, including a jaunt to the Eastern time zone that saw Oregon State sweep Georgia from Feb. 9-11. The bigger adjustment is to the climate, with OSU’s coaches and athletic trainer frequently reminding players to keep themselves hydrated.

One OSU player with experience in the matter is sophomore infielder Jason Ogata, who played his freshman season at Louisiana State in 2006 before transferring to Oregon State for this season.

“I didn’t realize when I was playing at LSU that it was so humid, but it was,” Ogata said as the Beavers wrapped up their workout with the temperature approaching 80 degrees. “But it feels good. It’s not too hot, but it makes you sweat and makes you loosen up and you feel good. I’m glad to be back down here. I think it will loosen everyone up, make them feel good going up to the plate or pitching or fielding.”

After spending the last two seasons playing their way into the College World Series by winning NCAA Regionals and NCAA Super Regionals at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, the Beavers are opening the postseason on the road this time around.

“It’s a new experience,” OSU catcher Mitch Canham said. “It’s a new way to have fun. We’re still playing ball, and we get to go see a different part of the country to go do it. It’s always been nice having everyone root for you, but we’ve played pretty well on the road so I think we’re comfortable. We get excited when we play on the road.”

The Beavers are also keeping academics in mind as the spring term draws to a close.

“Ardell does a good job of keeping us in line and reminding us to keep up with our work,” said Canham, who was named to the Academic All-America first team earlier in the week. “We got here a day early, so we’ve got the rest of the day to work on our homework and the things we need to keep up on. And we’ve got internet access, so we can contact our group members for group projects. We’ll be good there.”

While many of the Beavers were on the 2006 national championship team or the 2005 College World Series team, this weekend marks the initial taste of the postseason for some.

“It’s pretty fun,” said OSU outfielder Chris Hopkins, one of the first-year Beavers. “It’s one step closer to Omaha. It’s the playoffs – you’ve got to go hard or go home.”

Later in the day, the four head coaches met the media.

“Oregon State is definitely excited about being here,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “It’s a tremendous field and we’re happy to be out here and looking forward to playing. It’s always exciting for our guys to get back to the postseason. A lot of people are talking about that national championship, and I wish we had a couple of those guys with us. But we’re excited to be here; the hospitality has been awesome and the support has been terrific, and we appreciate that.”

Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor likes the Cavaliers’ chance to showcase their team, school and city, and looks for a competitive tournament.

“I’m very excited about this regional,” O’Connor said. “I think it’s going to be a great regional. We have two conference champions in Rutgers and Lafayette in the regional, and we have the defending national champion (Oregon State) – that’s pretty exciting for our fans and this community to come out and watch great baseball. Our team is looking forward to it get started.”

Fred Hill of Rutgers echoed those sentiments.

“We’re very happy to be here and we’re very pleased to represent the Big East in the tournament,” Hill said. “It’s a very competitive tournament. Someone asked me, ‘How do you feel about playing Oregon State?’ and I said, ‘Wow. To open up with the national champions, it doesn’t get any tougher than that. We’re really looking forward to competing. We had the pleasure of playing against Joe (Kinney, Lafayette head coach)’s team earlier in the year and we know what they’re all about. I think it will be a very, very nice tournament.”

Kinney also gave a nod to OSU for its accomplishments of the past two years in his opening remarks.

“On behalf of Lafayette, we’re excited to be here, as well,” Kinney said. “Playing an Atlantic Coast Conference team is obviously a tall challenge, but it’s an exciting one. We play Rutgers every year; I’m from New Jersey myself, so that’s a special treat. Some of our fans can get here because we’re playing on the East Coast. Oregon State is the defending national champion and they’re another so-called ‘cold weather’ school; they showed it can be done, and I think that’s given a lot of encouragement to all of us.”