Following a pair of unorthodox losses at the hands of the Nevada Wolfpack, the No. 2 Oregon State baseball team (28-9-1, 14-4 Pac-12) will look to bounce back and return to its winning ways in the friendly confines of Goss Stadium this weekend against lowly Washington State.

With a three-game set against the last place Cougars (8-27-1, 1-13-1) providing an opportunity for the the Beavers to rebuild momentum, BeaversEdge.com dives into the latest with Pat Bailey's squad.

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It might be awhile before Oregon State decides to schedule in Reno...

Just eight short months after the Oregon State football team lost to the Wolfpack on a missed field goal by Jordan Choukair that was for all intents and purposes, a chip shot, the Beaver baseball team, sporting a No. 2 ranking, dropped a pair of extra inning, walk-off games that probably wouldn't happen nine times out of 10.

The pair of extra-inning madness games started on Monday as Dylan Pearce struck out eight in a career-long six innings. However, an errant throw on a Nevada sacrifice bunt in the 12th inning sent the Wolf Pack to an 8-7 win Monday night at Peccole Park.

The WolfPack put the first two runners on base in the 12th, and scored the game-winning run when Nick Seamons attempted a sacrifice bunt. Pearce attempted the get the lead runner, Daniel Perry, at third, but the throw was errant, allowing him to come home.

Pearce was masterful through his six innings of work, striking out a career-high eight. But he was saddled with the loss to drop to 1-1 this season.

In Tuesday's finale, it appeared that the Beavers were going to exorcise their demons with Joe Casey hitting a go-ahead home run in the ninth, but once again the Wolfpack magic came back around on the Beavers in a 7-6 loss.

Casey’s home run in the ninth pushed the Beavers to a 6-4 lead but Nevada managed to score two in the bottom half of the inning versus Jake Mulholland. That pushed the team’s to their fifth consecutive extra-innings game dating back to 2012. The Beavers placed a runner at third in the top half of the 10th, but could not plate him.

Mulholland was on in relief of Mitchell Verburg, who tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out a career-best seven in his 15th relief outing of the season. However, he was charged with the loss to drop to 2-1 this season.

Jake Pfennigs was sharp through four innings, limiting Nevada to two hits. But he got into a jam in the fifth, and the Wolf Pack tied the game after tallying four hits and utilizing an Oregon State error. Pfennigs left the game with one down in favor of Verburg, who ended the inning via a strikeout with the bases loaded.

Casey and Adley Rutschman each had three hits to pace the Beavers, who tallied 12 as a team.

Oregon State returns to Goss Stadium at Coleman Field to open a three-game series with Washington State starting Friday night. After having a Thursday-Saturday set last weekend due to Easter, all three of the Oregon State starting pitchers (Brandon Eisert, Bryce Fehmel, and Grant Gambrell) will have had an extra days rest by the time they face the Cougars.

With Washington State (8-27-1, 1-13-1) holding the distinction of being at the bottom of the Pac-12 and only sporting one conference win this year, the Beavers figure to have the advantage of playing a lesser opponent after a grueling couple of weeks.

While Washington State head coach Marty Lees was a longtime OSU assistant and was a Pat Casey disciple for many years, the Cougars aren't on the same level with the Beavers this season. They always seem to play the Beavers quite tough, and I expect them to over the course of the weekend, but the Cougars' 4-22-1 road record speaks volumes.

I like the Beavers to bounce back in a big way and sweep this three-game set in convincing fashion. There's no doubt that Pat Bailey and Co. were certainly frustrated on their plane ride back to Corvallis following the two walk-off losses in extra innings to the Wolfpack, and this weekend will be the first opportunity to shake off the frustrations of the two losses against a lesser opponent.

The Beavers will be televised on the Oregon State Live Stream this weekend.

According to Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt of D1 Baseball, Oregon State is projected to be the No. 2 national seed behind fellow Pac-12 member UCLA. The other interesting part of this projection is that it also includes the regional that the Beavers would be paired with.

Wouldn't it be something if North Carolina came to Corvallis fo the Supers? It's too early to look at matchups and projections as the field always shifts, but nevertheless it makes for intriguing storyline.

Here's the complete "projection" from D1.