Beavers to Face Gauchos in Midweek Matchup
Let’s Play Ball: The Oregon State softball team remains at home for a midweek game against UC Santa Barbara, as the Beavers face off with the Gauchos at noon on Wednesday at OSU Softball Complex. Admission to all Oregon State softball home games is free.
Follow Along: You can find live updates for all Oregon State games this season on twitter @OregonStateSB. Live stats will also be available at osubeavers.com.
The Matchup: UC Santa Barbara is 21-14 on the season, and is slated to play a doubleheader against Oregon in Eugene on Tuesday before making the trip down to Corvallis for Wednesday’s matchup. Kristen Clark leads the Gauchos, batting .443 on the season with 24 runs, while Lauren Boser paces the squad with four home runs and 20 RBIs. Shelby Wisdom is 9-8 on the season with a 4.03 ERA and 67 strikeouts.
Series History: The Beavers are 11-6 all time against UC Santa Barbara, with the teams’ last meeting coming at the 2012 Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego. The Beavers won that contest 6-0, as Hannah Bouska went 2-for-2 with two runs.
Kori Comes Through: Kori Nishitomi has started her Pac-12 career on fire, batting .476 in the first seven games of the conference slate. The Kaneohe, Hawaii, native is 10-for-21 since the start of league play, with three runs, a triple, a home run and two RBIs. Overall, Nishitomi is batting .386 on the year, leads the team with 34 hits and is tied for tops on the squad with five steals. Her season has been highlighted by a 4-for-4 performance against Arizona State on March 16, which included a triple.
Going, Going, Gonzalez: Freshman Alexis Gonzalez has made the cleanup spot her own in just her first season with the Beavers. The OSU designated player hit her third career home run last week in the second game of the Beavers’ series against Arizona. The freshman also hit .333 in Oregon State’s series against Arizona State, and her two-RBI double helped carry the Beavers to victory in the series’ opening game.
Give Me Gilmore: Junior Dani Gilmore has opened the 2014 campaign on a tear, hitting .392 with six home runs, 22 runs and 19 RBIs. The West Hills, Calif., native played the majority of her first two seasons in the leadoff spot, but has transitioned into the third position this year. Gilmore is a career .321 hitter, and has proven to be a wizard on the base-paths as well, stealing a team-best 27 bases on just 30 attempts since 2012. Gilmore also led the Beavers with 36 walks last season, placing her 14th in the NCAA in walks per game with 0.82, and is on a similar pace this season with 17 walks already in the 2014 campaign.
More Gilmore: Gilmore is already making her way into the Oregon State career record books. She is currently sixth in Beaver history with a .321 batting average, and is third with 91 walks. Her 107 runs are good for fifth in the Oregon State record book, while she is tied for 10th all-time with 27 steals and is tied with Vanessa Iapala for 10th with 23 career home runs. With a .722 slugging percentage through the first 29 games of the season, Gilmore is also on pace to finish the year second on Oregon State’s single season list for slugging percentage.
Triple Up: The Beavers are sixth in the NCAA with .38 triples per game this season. Oregon State has tallied a total of 11 triples this year, with Christie Langlois, Kylie Padilla, Dani Gilmore and CJ Chirichigno leading the way with two apiece. The Beavers are on pace to finish the campaign with just under 22 total triples, five short of the school record of 27, set back in 1984. Oregon State matched a school record with three triples against Penn State on Feb. 7. Chirichigno, Isabelle Batayola and Padilla each tallied a three-bagger to help the Beavers reach the mark for the fourth time in school history. Prior to this season, the last time Oregon State had three triples in a game was in 2010, when it faced Seattle U.
Bouska Goes For The Century: Senior Hannah Bouska could reach a career milestone with some solid work at the plate this week, as she is just five hits away from 100 in her career. Bouska has been a fixture in the Beaver lineup since joining the program in 2011, starting 140 games and scoring 72 runs in her career.
Going for 3: This year’s Oregon State recruiting class was ranked third in the nation by StudentSports.com, and includes four of the site’s top 40 recruits. Alysha Everett is Student Sports’ 23rd-ranked recruit, following an impressive display at PGF Nationals over the summer, as she hit .409 in bracket play. 27th-ranked Gina Bond is considered to be one of the top home-run hitters in the country, and has earned 6A Three Rivers first team honors three times. McKenna Arriola is StudentSports.com’s 33rd-rated recruit. She hit .541, with 33 runs, 23 RBIs and 12 steals at Camino Real High School last season, en-route to All-City honors. 40th-ranked Lovie Lopez batted .449 with five home runs as a junior for St. Paul High School last season. Pitcher Rainey Dyreson rounds out the class. She was named Great Basin (West) Conference Pitcher of the Year in her freshman and sophomore years, and has competed in the PGF Nationals.
