OSU Travels South to Face #17 Cal
Let’s Play Ball: The Beavers continue Pac-12 play this weekend with a trip to the Bay Area to play the #17 California Golden Bears. OSU will play at 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p..m. on Saturday and then finish the weekend with a game at Noon on Sunday. The Beavers hold a 3-3 record in Pac-12 play, coming off of a series sweep of the Stanford Cardinal at home in Corvallis.
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.
Last Week - Beavers Dominant in Series Sweep Over Stanford: The Beavers returned home this past weekend after starting the season with six weeks of road games. They faced off against Stanford, taking down the Cardinal in sweep fashion, winning all three games. The Beavers cruised to a 10-0 victory on Saturday, with home runs from Dani Gilmore and Mikela Manewa as Bev Miller went the distance in the 5-inning game. Sunday was an extra inning affair, with the Beavers scoring the tying run in the 7th before putting the winning run across in the 8th, taking the game 7-6. The Monday game was rain-shortened with the Beavers taking a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 5th inning just before the umpires called the game as the rain picked up in the evening.
A Look at Cal: The Cal offense has a trio of players who enter the weekend with batting averages over .400. Jazmyn Jackson, Britt Vonk and Danielle Henderson have started all 30 games and have averages of .460, .435 and .434 respectively. Cheyenne Cordes leads the team with 10 home runs and a .376 average. Cordes also leads the team with 48 RBI while Jackson tops the team with 35 runs scored. As a team the Bears have hit .351 and slugged .522 while holding opponents to an average of .263 and a slugging percentage of .407. Stephanie Trzcinski holds an impressive 10-1 record on the year with a 2.34 ERA. She’s held opponents to a .221 average over 74.1 innings, with 8 starts and 16 appearances. The Cal pitching staff as a whole had a 3.08 ERA in 198 innings. They have 111 strikeouts while walking 71.
Know Your History: The Beavers have a series record of 35-77 against the Bears with a 1-3 record under coach Berg. The two teams played one game last year in Corvallis, with the other two being rained out. The game that was played in 2014 was a 13-3 Cal win.
It’s Hampton Time: Redshirt sophomore Natalie Hampton is picking 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 home runs in each of the last two weekends she now has 17 on her career, only 7 away from already entering the top-10 all time at Oregon State. Hampton 4-for-8 on the weekend against Stanford, starting all three games in the field at first base. She had a double in addition to her home run and paced the team with 5 RBI and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
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 RBI 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 24 games, starting 19 and completing 17 of those starts. She holds a 3.43 ERA and an 14-6 record, after earning 3 wins this past weekend against Stanford. She has thrown 128.2 of the total 191.1 innings pitched for the Beavers. Miller has 82 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .249 batting average. She’s thrown three shutouts on the year, including a no-hitter Feb. 26 against UC Santa Barbara. She’s earned 219 ground outs while getting 77 flyouts.
Big Time Offense 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 53 RBI in 92 chances. The team is 116-for-334 with runners in scoring position. The team has a .329 batting average (97-for-295) with two outs to go along with 85 2-out-RBI. Sammi Noland leads the team with 19 2-out-RBI while Dani Gilmore has 12. They also start the inning strong, holding a .398 on base percentage (76-for-191) with the leadoff 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 Feb. 28-March1. The senior hit 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.
