The Oregon State Baseball team played their second slate of games this past weekend from Surprise, Arizona.
The Beavers finished their four-game stretch with a record of 3-1 and are 7-1 on the season. They beat Nebraska twice (10-1 and 5-2) and split with Ohio State (lost 6-1, won 5-1).
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Three things we learned from this weekend
1. Oregon State's pitching has continued to be relentless
Friday’s contest as an outlier, the Beavers continued to impress by way of their pitching staff. In eight games played this season, the Beavers have allowed just 16 runs and leave Arizona with an overall 1.5 ERA. Max Engelbrekt continues to impress, leading the Beavers with three total saves and Luke Heimlich has the tenth best ERA in the Pac-12 at 0.71.
Pitching has been a staple and the headlining reason why the Beavers have continued to look impressive through eight games. It will be interesting to see if the lockdown-style of pitching can continue during the eight game home stand.
2. The Beavers were mistake free on Saturday
In a sense, The Beavers were perfect in game three against Nebraska on Saturday. For the first time this season the Beavers were able to avoid any statistical errors on route to their 5-2 victory.
Although early, Oregon State so far this season has struggled when it has come to errors committed. Already with 11 before Saturday’s game the Beavers were tied with Arizona for the most committed in the Pac-12. By not committing an error on Saturday, the Beavers moved up to a .958 fielding percentage, propelling Oregon State from 10th in the Pac-12 to 7th in just one game.
3. Beavers capable of bouncing back early in season.
Despite a hot 10 run start to the weekend, the Beavers found themselves trailing Ohio State in game two on Friday. Oregon State fell behind quickly when Ohio State scored one run in the first inning and then hit a two-run home run in the fifth to extend their lead 3-0. The Beavers were never again able to make up for the quick Ohio State start and would eventually give up a season-high six runs on 13 hits allowed.
The Beavers quickly bounced back during Saturday’s game by scoring two runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Oregon State would then score another two runs in the next inning, pushing the lead to 4-0. Much like Ohio State was able to do against the Beavers on Friday, Oregon State’s hot start led them to a 5-2 victory. The Beavers have showed early and proved that despite a disappointing performance, this team has what it takes so far to rebound coming off loses.
Two questions
1. Can Nick Madrigal continue his standout slugging?
In 26 at bats so far this season, Madrigal has 11 hits, five RBIs, two doubles and one home run, placing him at a .423 percent average. Madrigal leads the Beavers through eight games in hitting percentage and despite going 0-4 on Sunday, he continues to be the biggest slugger on the season so far.
2. Will we start to see more home runs at home?
It was a struggle for the Beavers to produce home runs this weekend. A solo shot from KJ Harrison on Saturday marked the only home run by the Beavers. So far on the season, Oregon State is in a six way tie for fourth in Pac-12 with three total homers.
Goss Stadium should be more friendly to the Beavers and Oregon State has an eight-game home stretch to start slugging deep. I expect to see harder hitting and more home runs during the home game stretch to give Beaver fans something to cheer about early on. Although Goss hasn’t always been a favorite place to hit home runs, I expect the Beavers to rally in their season home opener.
One Prediction
The OSU bats will have a breakout game on Friday vs UC Davis
The Beavers finish from Surprise with an overall 3-1 record and are now set to prepare for a series of eight consecutive home games in Corvallis. I think the Beavers will use their first home crowd to their advantage in a big way. On February 19th, the Beavers scored 11 runs, their highest of the season so far. Oregon State will score at least 12 runs against UC Davis on opening night of their 2017 season.
Oregon State will prepare for a three-game series against UC Davis that begins on Friday before getting set to face University of Portland in a one-game, mid-week matchup on Tuesday.
