Beavers On The Road: Baseball At Stanford
April 14, 2011
PALO ALTO, Calif. - There's something to be said about a team that has real chemistry.
If there was any doubts that the 2011 Beavers had any of it, then those would have been seriously put to rest last week as the Beavers swept Arizona State. It was the first time ever in Corvallis and the Beavers' first sweep of the Sun Devils since 1966.
That's 45 years. That's quite an accomplishment.
Next up is Stanford, where the Beavers will start a three-game series Friday night that lasts through Sunday. It's another top 20 matchup as the Cardinal is ranked 17th.
Most teams might be tightly wound with the showdown looming, especially on the road, but that is certainly not the case with this club. They're loose and having fun and it shows. The guys are having fun on trips and during practice and that's leading to success on the field.
Need a travel story for today? We can do that. Need it to be significantly different than the trip to Arizona a couple weeks back? That won't necessarily be the case.
Athletes are creatures of habit and it helps to travel so often. The team knows to be on the bus at a certain time, gets to the airport, the players grab a snack and get on the flight. Today, OSU left Corvallis at 9 a.m. and took off on a Horizon Airlines turboprop at about 12:15 p.m.
If someone is a nervous flyer, turboprops might get to them. You don't go as high and you're moving slower and turbulence can be magnified because of this. But they're convenient for the airlines and cost efficient, so that's what led the Beavers to the Bay Area today. Naturally, the team did not have the chance to fly on the OSU plane as that one is a regional jet and not a turboprop.
The club flew to San Jose, where it is also scheduled to fly out of on Sunday. San Jose is far more convenient to fly to than San Francisco, as Palo Alto and Stanford is located closer to the South bay. San Jose to Palo Alto is about a 10-15 mile drive while San Francisco would probably add another 30 minutes.
In the past, the flight to San Jose meant arriving at an older terminal that came right out of the 1950s and '60s. It showed, with very little in the terminal for players to each. Things have changed now with a now terminal that is quite a bit nicer and technologically advanced. This will be a plus for the team on Sunday when it flies back to Portland.
After arriving, the players, who are staying at a hotel across the street from campus, had a chance to grab something to eat for a couple hours before going to practice. That took place at Sunken Diamond, a very picturesque park, until about 7 p.m. It started at 5:30 p.m., which gave the team a chance to work out at the same time as the start of Friday night's game.
Prior to the team's practice, head coach Pat Casey took a few minutes to do a live interview with ESPNU. The segment highlighted the series with No. 17 Stanford.
You can take a look at the interview on ESPNU below. Hope you enjoy.
Go Beavs!
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