Following a rare series loss — just their second of the season in Pac-12 play — the No. 10 Ducks (27-12, 11-7 Pac-12) return to the diamond Tuesday night for a single game against the Beavers (26-12, 8-7 Pac-12). @@http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/Baseball/Standings.aspx@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&KEY=&SPID=11401&SPSID=94835@@
The Ducks dropped two slots in the Baseball America Top 25 poll this week following an up-and-down week that saw Oregon win three straight games, highlighted by freshman Jordan Spencer’s no-hit performance on Wednesday, only to drop two straight to Washington State. @@http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top-25/rankings/2012/2613292.html@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=11401&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205416016@@
It was just the third time this season that the Ducks lost consecutive games — and the first time they did so at PK Park — but with Oregon State coming to town, the Ducks don’t feel they’ll need any extra motivation Tuesday night.
“It’s the Beavers,” senior shortstop Kevin Shepherd said. “It’s a rivalry, so we’ll come out like any other game, but it will have a little more zing to it. We’ll be ready to go.”
It’s another strength-against-strength matchup as Oregon’s pitching staff will put its conference-best 2.97 ERA against a Beaver squad that — despite a relatively low team batting average of .279 — is second in the Pac-12 in runs scored. Headlining Oregon State’s potent offense are Tyler Smith, whose .431 batting average is the ninth highest in the country, and Michael Conforto, who ranks second in the nation in RBI. @@http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/images/baseball/stats/2011-12/HTML/lgsumm.htm@@ @@http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/individual/200@@ @@http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/individual/487@@
Neither team has named a starting pitcher for Tuesday’s nonconference matchup, the first of five games between the Willamette Valley rivals this season. Oregon will host another nonconference game against the Beavers on May 8 before closing out the season with three Pac-12 games in Corvallis.
Oregon has been bitten by the injury bug of late and had four players miss the entire Washington State series, and things didn’t get any better Sunday when sophomore left fielder Brett Thomas left the game with concussion-like symptoms after colliding with Shepherd on a shallow fly ball.
Head coach George Horton reiterated that the Ducks won’t be using injuries as an excuse, however.
“We’re going to have nine guys on Tuesday, and we’re going to have nine guys next weekend,” he said.
As far as which nine Ducks will take the field Tuesday night and in this weekend’s series against California, Horton said that J.J. Altobelli (shoulder) and Brando Tessar (elbow) are still listed as day-to-day, while outfielder Aaron Jones is close to making a return to the Duck lineup.
“I don’t know if he’ll be able to play Tuesday, but it sure looks like he’ll be able to play next weekend,” Horton said.
When he does return to the lineup, Jones will give the Ducks a welcome offensive boost. Prior to his injury against the Cardinal, Jones led the team in both home runs and RBI.