Home Baseball Baseball: Oregon State @ Cal (Game 3)

Baseball: Oregon State @ Cal (Game 3)

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First pitch is 12pm today.

The matchup is Jace Fry (0-0, 2.08) vs Kyle Porter (2-0, 0.00). OSU has pitched to a 1.73 ERA over the past 6 games, so it's no wonder they're 5-1 over that stretch. This is the pitching we've all expected. If the defense can sure up, this team will go from good (picked them 35th) to great (top 20 and in Omaha).

The two obvious reasons to watch today's game:

  1. The possible sweep.
  2. Check out Jace Fry and see if he's the ace they need. He was impressive in his first start, all things considered.

I also enjoy watching the position battles play out. I felt Tyler Smith should be a starter all along, and that's finally coming to fruition. It'll be interesting to see who sits. Based on performance, it should be Keyes. But based on talent, I'd like to see Keyes in the lineup with Smith, which would put Tommassini on the bench. Interesting conundrum for Casey, and a nice subplot moving forward.

124 COMMENTS

  1. I posted this at the end of the thread thought it should go here, sorry about duplicate;

    ? @Beaver_Baseball Today’s lineup: Gordon-CF, Smith-SS, Conforto-LF, Davis-RF, Barnes-1B, Wetzler-DH, Rodriguez-C, Tommasini-2B, Fry-LHP. #gobeavs

    add Dunn to the five hole

    Yes thats Ben Wetzler as the DH. no Keyes

  2. Not specific to this game but the sport of baseball in general; I think the game would be better accepted if they sped it up a bit. The game needs to evolve in my opinion.
    Allow only one pitching change per inning and no warm up pitches on the mound. Limit timeouts to 1 per inning.

  3. Smith has to be the most improved player. Before Pac play last year he was an automatic out. Then he hit something like .360 in conference play last year, and I believe he’s over .400 now. He might be turning himself into a pro prospect. Who would have thought that a year ago? He reminds me of Michael Young a bit.

  4. Tony Renda seems in a slump ala Keyes, Pac12 player of the year and I think only one hit this weekend. Beavs lucky he flied out and shallow enough that runner on third held.

    • Fry gets a K to end the inning. The error by Dunn was so very big, hope Fry is strong enough to overcome.
      66 pitches last week, assume Casey would like to see 80-90 today if Fry can regain command.

  5. Fry just needs to throw strikes, we have a fresh bullpen thanks to the Starters yesterday, just avoid walking people. Go at their hitters, if they start hitting you know the bullpen is there to back you up.

  6. I don’t expect Casey to put up with Fry too much longer if he keeps walking people. It’s very helpful when you have a fresh bullpen in game 3

  7. I think MP said that Fry was on a 80 pitch count day. Must have 70 pitches by now. I suppose he may come out in the 5th to see if he can be the pitcher of record but I’m sure he’ll be on a really short leash.

  8. I’m sure everybody wanted Fry to be in position to get his first collegiate win but… you don’t want to keep tempting fate.

    • Yes, Beavs have gotten several breaks; but then again, they have made many of them by keeping up the pressure and getting early leads. I like it.

  9. Renda didn’t cover first on safety squeeze, along with poor hitting and the earlier mental error, he isn’t having a typical weekend for a POY !

  10. I’m thinking the scouts and prognosticators who had Davis and Conforto going in 1-1S in last summer’s draft were not wrong. Those boys can mash.

    I’m also liking the trend for OSU athletes announcing they will come here and spend time in school. Davis and Conforto were so insistent that nobody bothered drafting them. Fry was wobbly enough that the A’s held off to the ninth round.

    Even sports other than baseball… Langston Morris-Walker announced upon signing that he would be here four years to get his kinesiology degree.

    What’s with athletes voicing the true value of an education? Don’t they know that there’s a specious argument out there about paying them on the college level?

  11. Where does everyone think Cal will end up this season? I don’t follow baseball nearly as close as I follow football/basketball. My observation was that during our long road trip that we had some unexpected losses that could hurt our RPI. My thought is that we will have to make those losses up by good play in Pac-12 play. The question becomes, what does this Cal (likely) sweep mean? Are we pummeling a solid team and headed for a top 1/3 finish in the Pac or just building ego against a bad team?

    • Cal is a solid club, I think they’ll finish middle of the pack in the conference and get a regional berth. They’ve just had a tough series in the field and OSU is the better team.

    • I think we’re pummeling a solid team. I still think Stanford is the cream of the Pac. But I seriously thought going into this series that we were going to dismantle Cal and make a run on the league. I was just upset with Casey’s lineup follies in the non-con. Conforto, Davis and Smith are monsters, and Tommassini has made himself one as well.

      Hopefully Keyes, Jake and Danny wake up. This could be a monster team. That Casey quote about pitching, defense and hitting… and by how much you win… is spot on. I love small ball. But when you can just win period, it’s hard to argue against that scheme.

      • I generally really enjoy the strategy of small ball but it has flaws. I feel like playing small ball is like having a basketball team with a slow-it-down/defensive identity. Every game is close and you are in it (even when you shouldn’t be) but on the flip side your opponent is still in it til the end too.

        • That can be the case but once you get a lead it can help you keep on tacking on runs. It also puts pressure on the defense to execute. Cal hasn’t executed and it has really hurt them.

        • I think that makes every contest exciting and fun. But maybe that’s just me.

          The best game I ever saw was Bob Welch’s first game. He pitched a one-hit shutout where the Dodgers beat the Reds 1-0, and Johnny Bench came in to pinch-hit in the ninth and hit three towering foul balls.

          Btw… the Dodger’s only run came on Welch’s solo homer in the early innings.

          You could cut the adrenaline in that stadium with a knife. There was nobody watching anything but the action on the field.

          That said, I agree to a point. Atlanta had a great run as long as Maddux and Schultz were on their game. Even if you don’t play small ball, you need those pitching stars. So why not spend on the P’s and hire defensive specialists to fill out the lineup?

          • That is exactly how I would build a team. I think building something like the Giants have now is the way to go. They got hot and won a championship. The only downside is that those cold streaks are mean.

  12. OT… the Pac refs in the Columbus regional were getting booed earlier. But I think they were making good calls in order to keep control of the game. And they were consistent calls.

    Btw… Izzo versus Majerus is not a snoozer.

      • They made a series of foul calls. Every one of them was legit, but Mich St got called for three on one defensive series, which made the Midwest crowd boo for their bias. St Loius is not a B1G school. The crowd knows that.

        • When I turned on that game I was surprised to see Majerous. I thought he died a couple of years ago! Great game. Tom Izzo is a great coach and Dramond Green is a fantastic player.

  13. Can’t say this weekend could have gone much better. Arizona will be a much tougher out next week, though. Beavers shouldn’t expect nearly as many errors as Cal gave up.

  14. Beavers win 13-5 and sweep the series!! Great series by the Beavers. Wildcats will be a tough test for the Beavers at Goss but OSU is playing some good baseball, should be a fun series.

  15. It all starts with the pitching, and the Beavs got it Friday and Saturday. Sunday was icing on the cake. Fry was pretty good again, but not great, which is fine at this point (he probably is tentative/building strength, confidence, etc). Got his first win, which should help the latter.

    Beavs will be fine versus Arizona if they get pitching. Beavs lineup is really good now that everyone’s in their right slot and role. Tyler Smith in the 2 hole is a real boost. Beavs 8 hitter (Jake Rodriguez) could bat 2nd through 5th on any other club.

    Not sold on Max Gordon leadoff, but he’s done just enough.

        • I know. He seems to get hit by a pitch or reach on an error or walk just enough to stay in the lineup, but I liked Barnes in CF and leadoff best. I didn’t see Barnes in the field much, though, so not sure if he can play CF well.

          • Gordon is actually playing okay. He does get on base by HBP a lot but he’s hitting .286, it’s not as if he’s hitting poorly and he’s a really good defender. He’s not a really good player but he’s decent and isn’t a liability at the plate.

  16. Pretty good weekend for the alma maters!
    Beavs: Win and advance in CBI and WNIT. Sweep Cal in Baseball, 10th in NCAA wrestling
    Gophs: Women’s Hockey Nat Champs, NIT win, 2nd in NCAA wrestling, CBI win

    Too ball the b-ball is in the losers brackets so to speak.

    • All the guys who make it to the NFL come back all bulked up. Now that they don’t have school, they become workout freaks. Working with specialized trainers and nutritionists. Nick Barnett is a prime example.

  17. Beavers should be able to handle TCU tomorrow in the 2nd round of the CBI. Preview up on Beaver Byte from TCU writers. Gives a good snapshot of who and what we will be facing Monday night.

    TCU vs. OSU Hoops Preview:
    http://beaverbyte.com

    • USC crushed them! Yes we should win. We should know after about three minutes. Hopefully CR gives them a couple Red Bulls an hour before tip-off so the start playing from the jump.

      • They aren’t really the same team that USC spanked. They’re much improved and beat 3 teams from their conference that went to the NCAA Tournament. They’re a solid team. They’ve been a poor road team but if the Beavers don’t come out and play well TCU can easily beat them. Will not be an easy game whatsoever. I expect the Beavers to win and expect it to be an up and down game.

  18. Win.

    TCU is not a good road team, and their size is too much for them to overcome. It’s actually a good game for man match-ups with Starks not being the smallest player on the floor.

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