Baseball Headed To Fourth Consecutive Postseason
May 29, 2012
Oregon State Postseason Guide (.pdf) | Oregon State Tournament Central
Beavers In The Postseason
Oregon State has advanced to the 2012 postseason and will play in the Baton Rouge Regional. The Beavers' first game will come against Belmont as OSU is a No. 2 seed in the regional. LSU is the No. 1 seed while Louisiana-Monroe is No. 4.
Postseason History
Oregon State is making its 13th visit to the postseason since the program's first season in 1907. The Beavers carry a 38-24 (.619) record into the regional, with the current head coach, Pat Casey, claiming 33 of those victories. Oregon State's visit is the team's fourth consecutive, which is a new program record. The Beavers are 21-15 in NCAA Regional games (.583), including a 9-13 mark away from Goss Stadium. OSU is 16-5 (.762) in NCAA Regional games since the NCAA adopted the current postseason format.
Against The Baton Rouge Field
Oregon State will be facing LSU, Belmont and Louisiana-Monroe for the first time.
Postseason Experience
Fourteen members of the Oregon State active roster have played in the postseason. That includes eight position players and six pitchers. Danny Hayes (.454, 5-for-11) and Jake Rodriguez (.438, 7-for-16) highlight Oregon State in the field. Tony Bryant has two saves in the postseason while Matt Boyd has allowed six hits and one earned run in 5 1/3 innings (1.68 ERA).
Casey Is New Leader
Pat Casey surpassed Jack Riley (1973-94) as the program's all-time leader in victories. Casey and the Beavers defeated Oregon, 7-3, on May 25 to give Casey his 614th victory at the time. Casey is currently ranked 13th in Pac-12 Conference history for wins and enters the NCAA Regional with 616 in his 18 seasons at Oregon State.
Solid Pac-12
The Pac-12 has four teams - Arizona, Stanford, Oregon and UCLA - that will host an NCAA Regional. The Beavers went 9-5 against such clubs, sweeping Oregon (and 4-1 overall) and going 2-1 against both Stanford and UCLA. Arizona won the series between the clubs, 2-1.
38 Again
The Beavers finished their second consecutive regular season with 38 victories after going 38-17 through 55 games in 2011. Oregon State won more conference games in 2012, picking up 18 to the 17 in 2011. OSU's Pac-12 winning percentage was slightly worse, however, as 18-12 is .600 and the 2011 club was at .630 (17-10).
Defense ... Defense
Oregon State went the final seven games without committing an error to see its fielding percentage at a season-high .977, which, if the season ended at 56, would tie the 2007 and 2009 clubs for the best in a year. The team's fielding percentage during league play was .982.
Conforto ... Enough Said
Michael Conforto's three-run home run in the series finale against Washington State on May 20 sent the freshman to the OSU single-season record for runs batted in as it moved him to 69 on the year. It broke Joe Gerber's previous mark of 67 set in 2000. Conforto also led the Beavers with ssss home runs, which also tied for the Pac-12 lead. The 71 RBI he finished with during the regular season led the league outright.
Starting Staff Solid In League Play
The trio of Ben Wetzler, Jace Fry and Dan Child combined to start 29 of the Beavers' 30 Pac-12 games and were absolutely solid. They combined to go 12-7 with a 3.06 earned run average in 199 2/3 innings in Pac-12 play. The trio finished with 18 quality starts (six or more innings, three earned runs or less) during conference games.
Pretty Indicative Stat
Want a stat that truly indicates how good the OSU staff and defense was during the regular season? Oregon State finished the club's regular season campaign with a 16-0 record when holding opponents to two runs or less. By comparison, the Beavers were 26-0 this season when scoring six runs or more in a game.
Things To Note
OSU went 34-0 when leading after the eighth inning ... The Beavers went 26-1 when out-hitting opponents ... OSU was 21-7 when a starter picked up a quality start and 3-10 when an opposing starter threw a quality start ... The Beavers were 9-8 in one-run games.
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