PREVIEW - Oregon Baseball Takes on Oregon State in a mid-week mini-series against the Beavers

By Levi Profitt

Eugene, OR - Oregon (26-13) baseball is coming off a series loss to Washington State, but they'll have to prepare for the #2 ranked rival Oregon State ballclub (31-8) as the Beavers come to Eugene for a midweek Tuesday series April 26th at PK Park. Oregon State brings a team to the diamond that's won 11 out of it's last 12, and has scored at least four runs in it's last seven games. They're no slouch on the pitching mound either, with five pitchers who have an ERA below 2.5 compared to just one for Oregon.

Projected Pitching Matchup:

Oregon State: The Beavers Tuesday go-to as of late is Jaren Hunter, a sophomore from Damascus, Oregon, who's pitched 26.1 innings this year with an ERA of 5.47 and a record of 1-1. Hunter's last outing was rough, as he allowed seven earned runs in just two innings against Gonzaga, an area where Oregon might be able to strike with how prolific the bats have been thus far for the Ducks. However, Hunter has given up zero home runs in his starts this year, meaning Oregon may have to find different hitting strategies to get good looks against the sophomore.

Oregon: The Ducks have thrown a variety of pitchers out for Tuesday games, but since Christian Ciuffetelli has been the ace for a number of those, one bet would be him here. Ciuffetelli, a junior from Irvine, California, is 1-2 on the year with an ERA of 4.5 with a total of 12 innings pitched. Ciuffetelli hasn't pitched too much on the year, but hasn't allowed too many earned runs. He also hasn't allowed many walks at all on the year at five.

Projected Lineups:

Oregon State:

  1. LF Wade Meckler
  2. 2B Travis Bazzana
  3. CF Jacob Melton
  4. RF Justin Boyd
  5. 1B Garret Forrester
  6. C Gavin Logan
  7. DH Greg Fuchs
  8. 3B Jake Dukart
  9. SS Kyle Dernedde

Oregon:

  1. LF Tanner Smith
  2. 3B Drew Cowley
  3. DH Brennan Milone
  4. 1B Jacob Walsh
  5. SS Josh Kasevich
  6. RF Anthony Hall
  7. CF Colby Shade
  8. C Josiah Cromwick
  9. 2B Gavin Grant

Keys For Oregon:

  • Can't try to just outhit this team
  • Get out to a fast start
  • Don't reveal all of the tricks to preserve them for the weekend series

Final Thoughts:

This is obviously a preview of what Oregon will be seeing next week when they play the Beavers four times. Oregon has a dynamic offense that's getting back to full strength with the return of Drew Cowley, but they can't be too reliant on that offense. Pitching will need to be strong in this one for a group that's struggled for a long part of the season.

Prediction:

Oregon makes it close, but can't contain the Beavers bats as Oregon State takes the win.