The No. 12 Oregon State baseball team concludes regular season play this weekend as the Beavers (35-16-1, 20-6 Pac-12) play host to the USC Trojans at Goss Stadium.
The three-game tilt starts runs Thursday-Saturday and with Oregon State still fighting for postseason positioning and a Pac-12 title, there's a lot on the line this weekend. BeaversEdge.com breaks it all down for you in this in-depth weekend preview.
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A look at the Trojans
USC comes into Goss Stadium this weekend with little more than pride on the line as the eighth place Trojans will see their season end following the series. With that being said, Oregon State cannot take USC lightly as the Trojans are still a talented group that has the ability to beat the Beavers if they're not on their game.
The Trojans (23-28-1, 11-14-1) took two of three from Oregon at home last weekend, before dropping their final midweek contest of the season against UC Irvine on Tuesday. Matthew Acosta led USC in the Oregon series, posting seven hits, three RBI, five runs scored, three doubles and one homer.
While USC has been an above .500 team in the friendly confines of Los Angeles (16-15-1), their achilles heel this season has been on the road where they're just a paltry 7-12. With Oregon State having much more to play for this weekend, a sweep means more to the Beavers than being swept means to the Trojans.
USC has talent, as they always do, but Oregon State is the better team and should find success against a team that has a tendency to run hot and cold. The Trojans can beat anybody, as evidenced by their wins over UCLA, Arizona State (x2), Stanford, and Cal (x2), but have also had their down moments when their offense isn't clicking.
When the Trojans win games, it's when they're scoring runs in bunches. In their Pac-12 wins this season, USC is averaging just under seven runs per contest (6.9), while in their losses, they're sporting a much lower four runs per game.
With Oregon State having a strong pitching staff, they'll be posed with the challenge of locking down a USC team that thrives on being able to win games in high scoring fashion.
Pitching Rotation
Quick Hitters
- Oregon State is 67-18-1 in Pac-12 play since the 2017 season. That's a .785 winning percentage. Additionally, they've won 20 or more in Pac-12 play for three consecutive seasons.
- Oregon State is closing the regular season at home for the fifth consecutive year. Since 2015, the Beavers are a combined 11-2 in their final series. OSU took 2-of-3 from Cal in 2015, three versus UCLA in 2016 (all by shutouts), four vs Abilene Christian in 2017 and 2-of-3 against UCLA in 2018.
- Oregon State has won its past four series versus the Trojans, claiming each by 2-1 margins. At Goss, the Beavers have won three consecutive series, including a sweep in 2013, Oregon State’s only over USC in a three-game set. The Trojans are the only Pac-12 team the Beavers have yet to sweep away from home.
- Oregon State turned a series-best three double plays in Sunday’s win at Stanford. Oregon State is fourth in the Pac-12 with 38 double plays this season, and second with a .979 fielding percentage.
- Oregon State’s batting average against in Pac-12 play is at .233, 12 points better than the 2018 team’s .245 mark, which led the Pac-12.
- The team’s overall ERA of 3.08 is second nationally, just ahead of Texas A&M’s 3.10 mark, as of May 22.
- OSU ranks 15th in the nation, averaging 3,640 fans per home game.
Prediction
Oregon State is going to get the brooms out in Corvallis this weekend.
With a shot at the Pac-12 title and a higher postseason seed in play for the Beavers this weekend, I believe we'll see a team that's as focused and determined as they've been all year. As history will tell us, the Beavers are dominant at home to close out the year. Since 2015, the Beavers are a combined 11-2 in the final weekend and that type of poise and clutch play is going to be required against a Trojans team that's looking to play spoiler.
Goss Stadium is going to be electric is what's going to be Adley Rutschman's and several others' final regular season home series of their Oregon State careers and there's no doubt they'll be looking to go out on top.
It's been a whirlwind season for the Beavers in terms of injuries and up and down play, but the opportunity to close the season with three wins and really put themselves in good postseason seeding position is well within reach. That's why I expect the Beavers to take all three from the Trojans and enter the postseason with loads of momentum.