Oregon State Beavers Baseball: 3 Keys to Victory

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No. 3 Oregon State (31-11-1, 17-4 Pac-12) vs Oklahoma State (25-16, 10-8 Big 12)

Friday - 5:35 p.m.

Saturday - 6:05 p.m.

Sunday - 12:05 p.m.

Goss Stadium at Coleman Field

TV: Oregon State live stream (Friday) (Link here), Pac-12 Networks on Saturday and Sunday.

Radio: Beaver Sports Radio Network

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Opposing Pitcher to watch

#48 Brett Standlee: 6-foot-4, 232 Fr. RHP: 2-1, 3.73 ERA, 50.2 IP, 45 K, 16 BB, .282 avg

Opposing Hitter to watch

#33 Trevor Boone: 6-foot-2, 210 JR OF: .297 avg, .690 SLG, 15 H, 38 RBI

1. Pitching and Defense

Like many other teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma State places a high emphasis on offense, and a so so emphasis on pitching. As we all know, the Big 12 is an offense driven league and baseball is no exception. The Cowboys boast a top four batting average (.274) and slugging percentage (.471) in the Big 12 and perhaps most impressively, have tallied a whopping 55 home runs as a team this year, good for ninth best nationally.

In order for the Beavers to get back to their winning ways and pick up steam heading into the final weeks of conference play, a strong non conference showing against a bubble top-25 team is needed this weekend. If the Beaver pitchers can stymie the Cowboy hitters and the defense behind them is solid, the Beavers should be in a good position to take the series.

2. Match OSU stride for stride on offense

While you're always hoping to slow down or limit an offensive juggernaut like Oklahoma State with strong pitching, that's not always what happens. In the case of this weekend, the Beavers have to go in with the mindset of locking them down with pitching and defense, but are ready to adjust as necessary.

While I see the Beavers ultimately multiple games of the series with scores in 4-2, 5-3, 6-4 range, it's possible that there's one game where the pitching doesn't show up and it's going to be a hitters duel. We saw the Beavers flex their ability to score last Friday night against WSU (18 runs) and it's possible that with a high-powered offense like Oklahoma State, you might have to compete in a scoring match.

While Oregon State's pitchers are certainly among the best in the country (2.92 ERA, 2nd best nationally) when it comes to limiting runs and controlling the narrative of the game, facing a challenge like Oklahoma State will be a good challenge for the Beavers. The Cowboys are all but guaranteed to be a postseason team and having a non-conference, top-tier tuneup late in the season will allow the Beavers to further build momentum heading into a tough upcoming stretch of Pac-12 games.

3. Get quality starts

In order for the Beavers to take a series win or a sweep this weekend, they'll need to get strong starts from Brandon Eisert, Bryce Fehmel, and Grant Gambrell over the three days. While OSU's achilles heel this season has been midweek games (lost six of last seven), these three pitchers have been a big reason why the Beavers have been able to maintain pace in the Pac-12 title race deep into the season.

With a swing for the fences type of team coming into Goss this weekend, there's no doubt that these starters, and the relievers out of the 'pen will have their hands full. With sunny temperatures expected this weekend, we'll probably see the ball travel pretty well if it's struck well.

Because Oklahoma State has the ability to hit home runs and explode offensively at any given time, getting quality starts from the veteran starters to ease the burden on the bullpen will be critical this weekend. If OSU can get Eisert, Fehmel, and Gambrell six plus innings each of the three days, I like their chances to sweep this weekend.