Beavers Face Cardinal in First Home Games of 2015
Let’s Play Ball: After six weeks of play on the road the Beavers return to Corvallis for the second week of Pac-12 play. The Beavers welcome the Stanford Cardinal for a 3 game series that will stretch into the start of next week. It will be the first home games for OSU since they ended the 2014 season with a 5-game homestand against Washington and Portland State, winning the final two games of the stretch against the Vikings.
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.
TV/Radio: All games of the series will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks. Check the schedule page on osubeavers.com for further details.
Parking: Free parking will be available in the lot past the outfield Saturday and Sunday. Parking in the Reser Stadium on Sunday will cost $10 with the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament taking place in Gill Coliseum. Parking on Monday will be permit parking on campus.
A Look at the Cardinal: Entering the weekend the Cardinal are the only team in the Pac-12 with double digit losses, sitting at a14-14 record. They have yet to play a Pac-12 opponent, with their bye week last weekend. Stanford has not played a game since March 8 when they had a double header against #17 Minnesota and Santa Clara, dropping the first game before defeating the Broncos. The Stanford offense is topped by Kayla Bonstrom with a .477 average and a .852 slugging percentage. The Cardinal have hit .303 as at eam with a .463 slugging percentage while opponents are hitting .303 with a .447 slugging percentage. The Cardinal have outscored opponents 180-160. The pitching staff for Stanford has a 4.81 ERA with 79 strikeouts and 112 walks in 179 innings. Madi Schreyer has a 2.09 ERA and a 4-3 record in 14 starts for the Cardinal, while Haley Snyder leads the team in innings pitched with 95.2 while holding a 5.12 ERA.
Know Your History: The Beavers have a record of 28-47 against the Cardinal, with a 3-3 record under coach Berg. The Beavers took the series at Stanford last year in the last weekend of play for 2014. They dropped the first game 8-2 but the bats came alive in the final two games of the season, earning a 12-4 win in 6 innings and then taking a 13-9 win.
Last Week Beavers Drop Civil War Series: After a earning an impressive 19-6 pre-conference record the Beavers struggled against the No. 2 Oregon Ducks last weekend, dropping the 3 games in Eugene. Three Beavers hit home runs in the 23-12 slugfest on Sunday, with Sammi Noland, Dani Gilmore and Natalie Hampton all going yard. Hampton hitting a grad slam, her first hit in just her 10th at bat of the season as the redshirt sophomore continues to work back from an injury that cost her the first weeks of the season.
It’s Hampton Time:Redshirt sophomore Natalie Hampton is looking to pick up where she left off in 2013, after missing the 2014 season. The Antelope, Calif., native made a historic start to her Oregon State career in 2013, setting a school record with 50 RBIs and tallying 15 home runs, one short of the OSU mark held by Cambria Miranda and Tarrah Beyster. Hampton started all 58 games at first base, hitting .329, second on the team. Her 13 doubles led the Beavers, and for her efforts, Hampton earned Pac-12 Second Team honors. With her homerun last weekend she now has 16 on her career, already just 8 away from entering the top-10 all time at Oregon State.
Give Me Gilmore: Senior Dani Gilmore looks to continue her fantastic collegiate career this season after hitting .409 with 8 home runs, 38 runs and 40 RBIs and had a team-best 12-game hitting streak in 2014. The .409 average is the fourth highest single season total in school history. The West Hills, Calif., native played the majority of her first two seasons in the leadoff spot, but has transitioned into the third position in 2014.
GilMORE: Gilmore is already making her way into the Oregon State career record books. She entered the season with a .336 career batting average, good for fifth in school history, but has already improved that number. With 124 career runs to begin the 2015 season, Gilmore needed 29 run to take sole ownership of the top spot, passing Cambria Miranda (2005-08) at 152, Gilmore has already scored 33 runs on the years and now holds the top spot. Gilmore hit 27 homers in her first three seasons, putting her tied for eighth all time at OSU, She also has 30 stolen bases in her career, putting her tied for 8th all time.
Miller In the Circle: Bev Miller has been the go to arm for the Beavers in 2015, appearing in 21 games, starting 17 and completing 15 of those starts. She holds a 3.57 ERA and an 11-6 record, while throwing 113.2 of the total 173.1 innings pitched for the Beavers. She has 79 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .257 batting average. She’s thrown two shutouts on the year, including a no-hitter Feb. 26 against UC Santa Barbara. She’s earned 199 ground outs while getting 60 flyouts.
Big Inning The Beavers have been able to put runs together in bunches this season. When OSU is able to put a runner on third and less than 2 outs they have 48 RBI in 83 chances. The team is 106-for-297 with runners in scoring position. The team has a .325 batting average (87-for-268) with two outs to go along with 76 2-out-RBI. Sammi Noland leads the team with 18 2-out-RBI while Hannah Akamine and Dani Gilmore each have 11. They also start the inning strong, holding a .385 on base percentage (67-for-174) with the lead off batter of an inning.
Akamine Named Pac-12 Player of the Week: Hannah Akamine was named Pac-12 player of the week after spearheading the offensive efforts for the team when the Beavers took a 5-0 sweep at the Fresno State Louisville Slugger Bash. The senior batted 8-for-14 for a .571 batting average, scoring seven runs and driving in nine with two doubles and a home run. Akamine is hitting .368 with a .561 slugging percentage in her first year with Oregon State. The transfer from Tennessee has now been named a player of the week for the SEC and the Pac-12.
Quick Start: The Beavers are slated to play 54 games during the 2015 season. The team played nearly half of those games (25) in the first five weeks of the season. They had six games during the opening weekend at Kajikawa and then five games a week for the following three weeks while playing at San Diego State, Mary Nutter, and Fresno State. The team then played four games at Hawaii. The Beavers finished the 25 game non-conference schedule with a 19-6 record. The Beavers scored 187 runs while holding opponents to 106. The Beavers slugged .509, with 48 doubles, 4 triples and 23 home runs while opponents were held to a .366 slugging percentage.
It Aint Easy: Oregon State faces a tough slate yet again in 2015. The Beavers will play 24 games against 11 opponents that played in the 2014 tournament, including Wisconsin in the first week of the season, two games against North Dakota State and facing Pac-12 foes Arizona, and UCLA in Corvallis and ASU, Oregon and Washington on the road.
Do Some (Pac-12) Networking: Oregon State will have 13 games televised on Pac-12 Networks this season, the same number that they had a year ago. Oregon State will make its 2015 TV debut on March 14, when it takes on Oregon in Eugene. The second two games in the series will be televised, as the two squads will go head-to-head March 13-15
Transferring In: The Beavers welcome a number of transfer for the 2015 season. Junior college transfers Bev Miller and Mikela Manewa have both already made an impact on the team. Along with Miller and Manewa the team also adds Hannah Akamine and Sammi Noland. The team has had back-to-back years of successful transfers, with the 2014 season bringing CJ Chirichigno, Kori Nishitomi and Melanie Dembinski, who all played significant roles for the Beavers that year.
Keep it Fresh: Oregon State welcomes 6 freshmen to the team, with hitters Alysha Everett, McKenna Arriola, Lovie Lopez and Gina Bond, along with uility player Heidi Hall and pitcher Rainey Dyreson. Arriola and Lopez have played every game for the Beavers in the first 6 weeks with Arriola batting either first or second in the order and playing shortstop.
