The 10th-ranked Oregon State Beavers play the Arizona Wildcats Wednesday morning during the second day of pool play at the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The second-seeded Beavers and eighth-seeded Wildcats are playing with fifth-seed Arizona State in Pool B, one of three pools in the expanded, new-look conference tournament. The winner of each pool — along with one wild card team — will qualify for the semifinal round on Friday.
The Wildcats are playing for the second time in as many days after earning an important 12-3 win over Arizona State during the first day of pool play on Tuesday. Thanks to the upset, if Arizona beats the Beavers today, it would advance to the semifinals with an undefeated pool play record.
This is the first game of the tournament for the Beavers, who reached the championship game last season at the inaugural conference tournament.
Arizona and Oregon State met three times during the regular season in Corvallis and the Beavers swept the series. But the games were close — the Beavers won twice on walk-off singles in the bottom of the ninth.
Here are details about today’s game:
No. 10 Oregon State Beavers (39-16) vs. Arizona Wildcats (31-23)
When: 10 a.m. PT, Wednesday, May 24
Where: Scottsdale Stadium, Scottsdale, Arizona.
TV channel: Pac-12 Network.
How to watch live stream online: Pac-12 Network subscribers can watch the game at Pac-12.com or on the Pac-12 Now app on smartphones and tablets.
Radio: All games air on the Beaver Sports Network. Pregame starts 30 minutes before the first pitch. Affiliates include KEJO 93.7-FM & 1240-AM (Corvallis), KKNX 1051.-FM & 840-AM (Eugene), KCFM 104.1-FM & 1250-AM & 104.1-FM (Florence), KLAD 104.3-FM & 960-AM (Klamath Falls), KCFM 103.1-FM (Mapleton), KTMT 96.1-FM & 580-AM (Medford), KCMX 880-AM (Medford), KCMX 99.5-FM (Phoenix), KEX 1190-AM (Portland), KSKR 1490-AM (Roseburg) and KBZY 1490-AM (Salem).
Probable starters: TBA vs. TBA
This and that: The Beavers, who have won 13 of their last 16 games, went 9-3 in May to surge into second place in the Pac-12. It’s the second season in a row Oregon State has finished second and earned the No. 2 tournament seed. … OSU is batting .331 with 25 home runs, 36 doubles and 87 walks in May. … The Beavers hit .331 with three home runs, six doubles and 18 walks against Arizona in the regular season. … First baseman Garret Forrester was exceptional in the tournament last season, batting .348 with three home runs, one double and 13 RBIs. He needs one hit to reach 200 for his career and become the 12th OSU player to do so. … Micah McDowell and Mikey Kane bring 12-game hitting streaks into the tournament. McDowell is batting .380 with two home runs, four doubles and 12 RBIs and Kane is batting .319, with a homer, five doubles and 10 RBIs during their streaks. … Travis Bazzana enters the tournament with a nine-game hitting streak. … Arizona has belted 86 home runs this season, the third-highest single-season total in program history. The Wildcats are one homer shy from tying the second-highest mark (87 in 1998). Five Wildcats have hit 10 or more home runs this season, the first time that many have done so since 1993. … Arizona outfielder Chase Davis hit his 19th home run of the season last weekend against USC, moving him into sixth place on the single-season list and giving him 37 for his career. He ranks third on the Arizona all-time list and sits six short of second place. … Infielder Kiko Romero entered the tournament leading the Pac-12 and ranking fifth nationally with 80 RBIs. He needs six RBIs to tie the Wildcats’ single-season record of 86 (Shelley Duncan, 2001).
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— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
