Beavers to finish game against Pilots
Oregon State returns to action, picking up game against Portland in fourth inning, Beavers will be road team, though playing at home in Goss
Kacy Hochstatter
Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: Sports
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The Oregon State baseball team is going to try and resume its twice-suspended game against the Portland Pilots Wednesday afternoon at Goss Stadium in Corvallis.
The game was originally played at PGE Park in Portland on April 15 and was originally rescheduled for April 23 as part of a doubleheader that never happened.
The Beavers will be the road team, leading 3-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning. When Jason Ogata steps to the plate for the first time on Wednesday, he will miraculously be 2-2 with an RBI before he ever swings the bat.
Speaking of swinging the bat, the Beavers (21-18, 9-9) finally woke up from their seven-game offensive slumber as they put a 19 spot on the Cougars during game three of the weekend series in Pullman. The offensive outbreak came at a good time as Oregon State had lost four in a row to eastern Washington foes Gonzaga and the aforementioned last-place Cougars. Prior to Monday's game, Oregon State had managed only 22 runs in the previous seven games.
Winning the final game of the series was huge for the Beavers, as they maintained a .500 conference record with six Pac-10 games remaining. Finishing conference play with a winning record will be vital if the Beavers are going to have a shot at making the playoffs this year. Oregon State is currently tied with Cal for fourth place in the Pac-10 and only has UCLA and USC remaining on the conference schedule.
As important as the conference games are, the non-conference games are becoming just as important. The Beavers have seven non-conference games remaining, including games against Utah Valley State, Long Beach State and Pacific.
Oregon State is currently 12-9 in games out of conference and will likely need to improve on that down the stretch if the team is going to make the field of 64 in June. The schedule is rather favorable right now, but the Beavers have had a tendency to play up and down to their competition this season.
With series wins against top ranked teams such as Arizona State, Pepperdine, Georgia, The Beavers have made it through the most difficult part of the season. Now it comes down to winning games they are supposed to win, and it all starts with Portland today.
The Pilots (19-25) have lost nine of their last 13 games and have fallen off a little after a good start, but the Beavers know what the Pilots are capable of.
The last time these two teams met, Oregon State jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before the Pilots stormed back to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Joey Wong was the hero of the night with a RBI single in the bottom of the 13th for a 5-4 win.
The game starts at 4 p.m. with free admission. The game will be broadcast on the Beaver Sports Network.
Kacy Hochstatter, sports writer
sports@dailybarometer.com
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