Softball Opens Pac-10 Play at No. 7/13 UCLA - Oregon State University Athletics

March 31, 2011

CORVALLIS, Ore. -

THE GAMES - Oregon State opens up Pacific-10 Conference play this weekend when it heads to sunny Los Angeles, Calif. to take on the No. 7/13 Bruins of UCLA in a three game weekend series. The Beavers (16-8 overall) and Bruins (21-5) first clash on Friday at 7 p.m. at Easton Stadium. They match up again on Saturday with a 6 p.m. before concluding the three-game set on Sunday at 12 p.m.

FOLLOWING THE BEAVS - All games this upcoming weekend can be followed live online via GameTracker at www.osubeavers.com.

TRACK THE TEAM ON TWITTER - Get frequent updates on the Oregon State softball team throughout the season by following @OregonStateSB on Twitter. Links to stories, pictures from the road and much more will be tweeted through the official Oregon State softball Twitter.

GAMES 25-27: UCLA Bruins - The Bruins come into conference play ranked No. 7 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 with an overall record of 23-5 and have won their previous two games. They are hitting .340 as a team this season and are led by freshman shortstop Kellie Fox who is hitting .422. Fox is also has the sixth best slugging percentage in the conference with a mark of .805. She has the second most home runs on the team with seven and has a team leading 30 RBIs.

The Bruins pitching staff has a team earned run average of 1.83 this season and have allowed only 67 runs in 180 innings pitched. Jessica Hall posts the most wins for the Bruins with a 13-4 record on the season and a 2.19 ERA in 96 innings pitched. Donna Kerr is 8-1 this season with a 1.36 ERA in 72 innings. The staff has combined for 189 strikeouts in 180 total innings.

ALL-TIME AGAINST UCLA - Oregon State is 10-81 all-time vs. UCLA and 10-48 under head coach Kirk Walker. The last time the Beavers defeated the Bruins was a 5-3 home win over then No. 3 in 2008. The last time the Beavers beat UCLA on the road was a 2-0 win over then No. 1 UCLA, April 21, 2006.

UCLA CONNECTION - The Beavers have two UCLA connections on the coaching staff. Walker came to Oregon State after spending 11 seasons at national powerhouse UCLA as a manager and assistant coach. During his time in Westwood, the Bruins won six NCAA titles and made 10 appearances in the College World Series. Assistant coach Crissy Ziegler, formerly Buck, is a 2002 graduate of UCLA, Ziegler was a four-year starter and letterwinner for the Bruin softball team. A versatile athlete, Ziegler saw action in both the infield and the outfield. Ziegler started every game at shortstop for the 1999 NCAA Champion Bruins and belted the game-winning home run against DePaul in the opening contest of the 1999 Women's College World Series.

CONFERENCE OPENERS - The last time Oregon State won its conference opener was in 2009 when it defeated instate archrival Oregon by a score of 2-1. The Beavers are 3-2 in their last five conference openers and are 5-5 in their last 10.

WINNING WAYS - The Beavers are currently enjoying a nine-game winning streak going into Pac-10 play this weekend. It is their longest of the season and longest since the 2008 campaign. Over the course of the nine-game winning streak, the team is hitting .266 and has outscored their opponents 43-6.

STELLAR PITCHING CONTINUED - The pitching staff has allowed only six earned runs over 62 innings during the current nine-game winning streak. They have struck out 63 batters and walked 20 for a 3.15 strikeout to walk ratio. Batters are hitting just .178 in the past nine games. The staff has pitched six shutouts in its last eight games including the last three games.

TOUGH COMPETITION - The Oregon State softball team will take on nine teams ranked in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll and the USA Today/NFCA Division I Poll. Seven Pac-10 teams are included in that list in Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon and California. Other teams the Beavers will face are Georgia and Nebraska.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE BEAVERS - Following this weekend on the road, the Beavers return home to face the Arizona Wildcats to open Pacific-10 home conference schedule for the Beavers. They play Friday, April 8 at 3 p.m., Saturday at 12 p.m. and then again on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Support Oregon State University Athletics by making your tax deductible donation to the Beaver Athletic Student Fund. For more information follow this LINK OR CALL 541-737-2370. FOLLOW BEAVER ATHLETICS ON Facebook, TWITTER AND YouTube. Follow Oregon State Softball on FACEBOOK AND Twitter . Former Former Student-Athletes are invited to join the Varsity O Facebook Page for upcoming Alumni events.