Oregon State Beavers Baseball: Opening Series Preview

The No. 2 Oregon State Baseball team is set to begin their 2019 season and defend their national title this weekend as the Beavers head to Surprise, Ariz for the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic.

What can we expect to see from the Beavers this weekend? BeaversEdge has you covered with an in-depth preview.

Note: There will not be video streams for OSU's first four games

The No. 2 Oregon State Baseball team will start its quest to repeat as National Champions this weekend as the Beavers are set to open their season in Surprise. The Beavers are coming off one of the best seasons in school history and will look a lot different this season.

Gone are the likes of Trevor Larnach, Nick Madrigal, Cadyn Grenier, Luke Heimlich, Steven Kwan and others as the Beavers lost crucial position players in the offseason.

In addition to losing a bevy of players to the draft and graduation, the team also lost its coach. Longtime head-coach Pat Casey pulled the trigger on retirement in September and handed the reigns to longtime right-hand man Pat Bailey.

Bailey will have plenty to work with this season and this weekend as the Beavers returned all but Heimlich from their pitching staff and return the potential No. 1 overall draft pick in Adley Rutschman.

With the Beavers’ pitching talent this season looking like the best it’s ever been and having a full array of offensive weapons headlined by Rutschman, Tyler Malone, and Zak Taylor, OSU should be in great shape to start off the season on a strong note in Arizona.

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The Beavers will open their 2019 season with a matchup against New Mexico. OSU played the Lobos twice in the opening weekend of the 2018 season. The Beavers won game one 5-2 and game two 15-3.

The Lobos went on to record a 20-33-1 record a season ago, and are projected to be near the bottom of the Mountain West Conference. Due to that subpar record, longtime coach Ray Birmingham opted to clean house. He told the Albuquerque Journal back in fall that it was the most turnover he’s experienced in 41 years of coaching.

With all of that in mind, I expect the Beavers to see a very youthful Lobos team that isn’t short on talent, but struggles to keep pace with over the course of the 18 innings the two teams will play this weekend.

Kevin Abel is expected to be the starting pitcher for the Beavers and I think we’ll see him shine in his first career Friday night start.

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The second game of the weekend comes against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. OSU always seems to play the Zags at some point during their annual two-week Arizona start to the season, and this year is no exception.

The Beavers will get a dose of the best the West Coast Conference has to offer as the Bulldogs won WCC Championship last season, and were selected by the WCC coaches to claim regular season title in 2019.

Junior infielder and 2018 Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American Ernie Yake was selected the All-WCC Preseason Team, along with Conference ERA leader (1.91), preseason All-American and one of the nation’s top relievers in junior Casey Legumina.

We expect Bryce Fehmel to get the start on the mound for the Beavers.

Bailey and the Beavers will be extremely familiar with the Gophers on Sunday as it’s the first game between the two schools since the Super Regional round in Corvallis last June. OSU won both games en-route to their seventh College World Series appearance and eventual third national title.

Minnesota figures to have a little extra juice in this contest as they were outscored 14-4 in the two games a season ago. Working in the the Gophers favor is they return many of their key players from a very good 2018 squad.

A season ago, the Gophers won their first regional since 1977 and will be led again by two familiar faces in Big Ten pitcher of the year Patrick Fredrickson (9-0, 1.86 ERA) and a top-tier closer in Max Meyer (16 saves).

The Beavers figure to go with Sam Tweedt or Grant Gambrell on the mound.

The Beavers will conclude their weekend with its second matchup with the Lobos in four days.

Whoever doesn’t start for the the Beavers against Minnesota (Tweedt or Gambrell) will start the finale of the four-game opening weekend.

2.5:

The Beavers challenged themselves early with a few very intriguing non-conference tests. While the Lobos figure to be much more of a tepid challenge, playing against Gonzaga and Minnesota in week one with a new team isn’t easy. The Gophers will be gunning for revenge after the Beavers bested them in the NCAA Super Regionals last season and the Bulldogs always seem to play the Beavers very tough in Surprise.

While I think the Beavers will have some struggles with the Gophers and the Zags, they should ultimately take care of business this weekend and start off the Bailey regime with a clean sweep.