No. 25 Oregon State Tries to Reach CWS for Third Straight Year

You can hear the games live on KEJO-AM (1240) in Corvallis-Salem area.

Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. - It’s great to be anywhere, but it’s especially great to be home.

That’s the feeling for Oregon State’s baseball team this week. The 25th-ranked Beavers (42-18 overall) survived three elimination games to win the NCAA Charlottesville Regional and advance to this weekend’s NCAA Super Regionals.

And when the dust from the first weekend of the postseason had settled, OSU found it would be hosting Michigan (42-17) in a series for the right to advance to the College World Series.

The best-of-three series will be played at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field on Saturday at noon, Sunday at 1 p.m. and, if necessary, Monday at 4 p.m.

The winner advances to Omaha, and OSU is trying to reach the CWS for the third straight season.

The Wolverines – the Big Ten regular season champions – knocked off Vanderbilt, the top seed in the 64-team NCAA field, to win the NCAA Nashville Regional last weekend.

OSU’s bid for the NCAA Super Regional round then earned the Beavers the right to play at home with a trip to Omaha on the line for the third straight season.

“It’s a pretty amazing turn of events,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “What both these teams accomplished last weekend was tremendous. Michigan goes into the home ballpark of the top team in the country and beats it twice to knock it out of the tournament, and we have to win three games in two days on the road to advance.

"That should show everybody that this is going to be a series against two very talented, very determined teams, and that ought to make for a great battle. I think it also demonstrates how college baseball is becoming a lot more interesting over the past few years. More and more teams are proving they can compete nationally, including schools like the two of us that are in the northern part of the country. It should be a great series and we’re looking forward to it.”

Being back home also gives the Beavers an opportunity to have better memories of their 2007 Goss Stadium at Coleman Field finale than the ones they currently possess.

The last time the Beavers played in their home park, they dropped an 8-1 decision to Arizona State on a dismal day.

“We’re getting another chance to show our fans firsthand how we’re capable of playing, and I’m glad of that,” Casey said. “A big reason we’ve been so successful at home (68-16 over the past three seasons) is because of the support we’ve gotten and the atmosphere that Beaver Nation has created in that ballpark. And we’re going to need those fans this weekend, because we’re playing an outstanding Michigan team that has shown it can win anywhere.”

OSU is coming off a week that saw it win four of five games at the NCAA Charlottesville Regional, with the Beavers beating Rutgers 5-1, losing to seventh-ranked Virginia 7-4 in 13 innings, beating Rutgers 5-2, rallying in the late innings to beat Virginia 5-3 and then beating the Cavaliers again 7-3 to advance through the regional.

Oregon State is making its third straight appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals, all of them at home.

This is the first time, though, that the Beavers have played a team from outside the Pac-10 for the trip to Omaha; OSU beat Southern California in three games in 2005 and swept Stanford in 2006.

OSU has been led at the plate by senior outfielder Mike Lissman (.327 batting average, 8 home runs, 56 runs batted in), junior first baseman Jordan Lennerton (.325, 7, 47), junior catcher Mitch Canham (.323, 9, 54), junior shortstop Darwin Barney (.296, 4, 48) and sophomore infielder Jason Ogata (.295, 4, 40).

The Beavers’ pitching has been paced by the rotation of junior righthander Mike Stutes (9-4 record, 4.05 earned run average), junior lefthander Joe Paterson (9-6, 3.81) and freshman righthander Jorge Reyes (5-3, 3.48) and the bullpen of junior righthander Eddie Kunz (3-1, 3.05, 10 saves), junior righthander Daniel Turpen (9-1, 3.65, 2), sophomore righthander Mark Grbavac (0-1, 2.36, 3), freshman lefthander Blake Keitzman (1-0, 4.15, 1) and senior lefthander Anton Maxwell (3-1,2.42).

Michigan won the NCAA Nashville Regional by beating Memphis 10-7, beating top-ranked Vanderbilt 4-3, losing to Vanderbilt 10-7 and finally beating Vanderbilt 4-3 in 10 innings.

After winning the Big Ten’s regular season title with a 21-7 record, the Wolverines dropped both their games at the conference tournament, falling to Ohio State 4-2 and Penn State 6-5.

Michigan has been sparked offensively by junior outfielder Derek VanBuskirk (.386, 3, 32), sophomore second baseman Kevin Cislo (.372, 1, 23), junior first baseman Nate Recknagel (.359, 12, 61), junior utility player Doug Pickens (.347, 5, 41) and sophomore outfielder Zach Putnam (.341, 8, 59).

The rotation has been anchored by sophomore lefthander Mike Wilson (7-0, 3.07), righthander Putnam (8-4, 4.13), sophomore righthander Chris Fetter (6-3, 4.50) and senior righthander Andrew Hess (7-2, 4.52) with junior righthander Ben Jenzen (2-1, 4.54, 5) and junior righthander Michael Powers (3-3, 4.86, 4) leading the bullpen.

RADIO: Live on KEJO-AM (1240) in Corvallis-Salem area, KUIK-AM (1360) in Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in Eugene area, KICE-AM (940) in Bend area, KMED-AM (1440) in Medford area, KRNR-AM (1490) in Roseburg area, KNPT-AM (1310) in Newport area.

Live in Spanish on KXOR-AM (660) in Eugene area, KXPD-AM (1040) in Portland area and KLES-FM (101.7) in Yakima, Wash., area.

INTERNET AUDIO: Live via subscription through Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com.

INTERNET STATISTICS: Live at ncaasports.com.

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