It’s been a rough four weeks or so for the Oregon State baseball team. After spending the first nine weeks of the season in the top 25, a slide of unheard-of proportions in Corvallis has left the team near the bottom of the conference.
The Beavers have lost 11 of their last 12 games, including their last four Pacific-10 Conference series. The team sits at 21-17 overall and 4-11 in conference, just 1/2 a game out of last place. And technically, the team is in last place if you take winning percentage as the only determining factor: USC has a percentage of .278 to OSU’s .267.
That being said, the consensus around Oregon’s baseball program is one of unease. The No. 15 Ducks (30-15, 10-8) aren’t ready to write their rivals up the interstate off just yet.
“For them, there would be nothing better for them to get it rolling against us, and get going in a positive direction,” head coach George Horton said. “I’m sure Coach (Pat) Casey is talking about fighting for their lives and keeping the season extended and maybe making it to the playoffs.”
The uncharacteristic losing for Oregon State is something Horton is well aware of and has experienced. Just last year, Oregon struggled mightily in the conference. Last Sunday, when Horton heard that OSU had been swept by California, he said, “Oh my, poor Beavers.” Now, he hopes, they will struggle for one more weekend before finding their stride.
“I’m sure they’re trying their rear ends off to get that rectified, but like I said, I hope they don’t get it rectified until we are out of Corvallis,” Horton said. “They have good personnel and good coaching and good kids. We’re going to have our hands full.”
Oregon has already seen the Beavers this year. On April 27, OSU traveled to Eugene for the only time this season, and Oregon won 9-4 behind the pitching of Joey Housey and Madison Boer. The Beavers made some mistakes allowing Oregon runs to score, but the game was pretty much out of reach by the midpoint.
“We just had that swag,” shortstop KC Serna said of the difference from the 2009 season. “Last year when we played (the Beavers), they had all kinds of swag. Last year when they were taking their pre-game, they were big-leaguing it. And this year, it’s kind of switched places.”
“They’re not as strong as last year, but they’re still a strong team,” Serna added. “They played a pretty good ball game here when we played them. I think it should be a fun series. They have stuff to fight for, and we have some stuff to fight for as well.”
Oregon has its own problems to worry about. A day after moving up two spots in the Baseball America top 25, they dropped a 3-1 non-conference game to Portland. The Ducks couldn’t find their sticks, scoring a meaningless run in the ninth inning.
“It was kind of like the first game against Washington State,” freshman first baseman Jack Marder said. “(The pitcher) was throwing strikes. There’s no excuses; we just got impatient and got off our plan with the scouting report … we squared up a lot of balls, but they just didn’t fall in and we kind of lost momentum that way.”
Oregon didn’t get a single leadoff runner on base, contributing to the lack of offense, and Horton hopes his ball club will get back on track as they look to win their fifth straight conference series. With 15 games to go, the Ducks want to make a statement and earn their first trip to the postseason in the new era. To steal a phrase from head football coach Chip Kelly, all Oregon has done is earn the right to go 30-30.
“30-30 doesn’t sound as good as 35-25 or 40-20,” Horton said. “We have a lot of work left to do, and heck, we’re still not out of the conference race. Arizona State still plays some good teams and in our conference, anybody can beat anybody.”
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