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Beavers Lead Pac-10 After Weekend Sweep…

By CB360 Contributor Jack Blanchat

There might not be a team in all of college baseball that is hotter than the Oregon State Beavers, and they extended their winning streak to nine games by sweeping the Stanford Cardinal this past weekend in Palo Alto. The three victories put Oregon State on top of the Pac-10 with an 8-1 conference record, and they certainly look like a force to be reckoned with deep into the postseason.

The Beavers have a solid offense, with both lefty and righty hitters who can pepper the ball all over the diamond (for example, switch hitting freshman Kavin Keyes went 6-for-12 with two walks at the plate this weekend) but the reason Oregon State can beat any team in the country is because of their pitching and defense.

Sam Gaviglio (OSU photo)

Sam Gaviglio, the Friday starter, is a hitters’ worst nightmare. He throws almost exclusively breaking pitches, but the words “hanging curve” are not in his vocabulary. He struck out eight Stanford hitters in Friday’s game using the precise command of his curveball, baiting hitters into sitting back and swinging over pitches that ended up in the dirt and mixing in a surprise fastball every now and then.

With breaking pitches that were so deadly accurate, Gaviglio can go deep into games and keep the base paths clear – he only gave up two walks and four hits in eight innings on Friday, keeping consistent with his 0.779 WHIP this year.

But after Gaviglio beats you on Friday night (he’s 7-1 this year), lefty Josh Osich will most likely beat you on Saturday, too. Osich uses the fastball to his advantage, riding up into the mid-to-high nineties at times, and then mixing his stuff up to keep hitters guessing at the plate. Osich is 5-0 so far this season, and his six-inning, two-hit, six-strikeout, five-walk performance on Saturday was especially good because the Cardinal has a .332 team batting average against lefties this season.

Kavin Keyes had the only RBI in Friday's 1-0 Beaver win (OSU photo).

Freshmen hurlers Scott Schultz and Ben Weztler were also impressive on Sunday, but no matter who takes the hill, the Beavers’ defense gives any pitcher they trot out an advantage over most teams in the nation.

Shortstop Ryan Dunn has a massive range, and he can get to essentially any ball that comes his way, no matter if it’s to his left or right. Similarly, centerfielder Brian Stamps made three great catches in the outfield this weekend – and he came in as a defensive replacement for the last two innings of every game. It’s hard to rally on a team with such a good defense, and that great D can keep the Beavers safe even if their excellent starters get bounced early in a game.

Stanford, on the other hand, leaves this series reeling. The Cardinal has now lost five of its last six games, and the offense was downright dreadful for the entire weekend.

For example, righty Mark Appel dropped to 2-4 this season because Stanford couldn’t muster a single run off Gaviglio on Friday night. Appel went six and two-thirds innings with six strikeouts and just two walks, but he ended up losing a 1-0 decision, the second one-run game that Appel has lost this season ( the other a 2-1 loss to Vanderbilt).

The Cardinal offense appears to be struggling because shortstop Kenny Diekroeger is in the midst of a miserable slump, and in each game this weekend it was apparent that Stanford needs Diekroeger to hit if it expects to win.

Diekroeger went 2-for-12 this weekend with just one RBI, and his batting average has dropped over seventy points in two weeks, plummeting from .422 to .351. As Diekroeger goes, so do the rest of the Cardinal hitters, as the offense has only mustered 11 runs in the last six games.

After this cheerless weekend, the Card cannot afford to let the Beavers beat them again, as any hangover from the Oregon State series might be just the advantage that the visiting UCLA Bruins will exploit in this weekend’s upcoming series at Sunken Diamond. If the Cardinal expects to get back into the race for the Pac-10 title, it needs to rally hard and get wins against the Bruins’ great pitching staff.

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A big early April weekend of college baseball is in the books, so consider this your look back at some great action. The April 8-10 weekend saw some great baseball played around the country.

The weekend’s action included 39 series that featured College Baseball 360 Top-50 teams, with 12 of those series being won by the lower-ranked/unranked teams. Sunday’s games alone had 41 total games involving top-50 teams, with the higher-ranked teams winning 61% of those games (25-16). In fact, less than one-third of the weekend’s series involving CB360 top-50 teams (12 of 39) resulted in sweeps.

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Here’s a look back at some of the Top 50 highlights:

Big, Bad Beavers…

#19 Oregon State made history by sweeping #5 Arizona State in Corvallis over the weekend. It’s OSU’s first sweep of the Sun Devils at home and also marks its first sweep of ASU since 1966. Arizona State (22-9, 5-4) had not been swept in Pac-10 play since 1999.

Ryan Dunn (courtesy Oregon State).

Oregon State’s Ryan Dunn batted in the 8-hole for the Beavers (24-7, 5-1) all weekend. The shortstop batted 6-for-11 with three doubles, a home run and six RBIs. He helped OSU’s 6-9 batters go 22-for-42 (.523) over the three games, with 12 RBIs and 15 runs. Oregon State’s 24-7 start is the program’s best since its 2007 national championship season. 7,751 fans saw the three games at OSU’s Goss Stadium.

Cavs Cooled…A Little…

Virginia had its 12-game winning streak snapped when it lost 10-8 at Georgia Tech Sunday, but the Cavs still took two of three games from the Yellow Jackets in the big ACC series. Saturday’s 12-9 UVA win to clinch the series extended Virginia’s school record road winning streak to 11 games.

No surprise, Cavalier ace Danny Hultzen (7-0, 1.33 ERA) fanned 12 with just one walk in 8.0 IP in Friday’s 6-2 Virginia win. Hultzen is second in the nation with  90 strikeouts in  54 1/3 IP this season.

Virginia (31-3, 13-2) roughed-up Georgia Tech starters Mark Pope and Jed Bradley in the first two games. The duo combined to give-up 11 runs on 15 hits in 12 1/3 IP on Friday and Saturday. Virginia has won all five of its ACC series this season, including three on the road. It’s only other ACC loss also came on Sunday against Florida State.

Jake Davies was 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs to lead the Yellow Jackets to Sunday’s win. Georgia Tech (24-9, 12-3) suffered its first ACC series loss of the season. Buck Farmer earned his sixth straight win for GT, despite giving-up seven runs (four earned) in 7.0 innings on Sunday.

Woo Pig Sooie…

James McCann

Arkansas swept LSU in their 3-game SEC series in Fayetteville and if you were lucky enough to see any of the action you saw some great baseball. The Razorbacks won each of the last two games of the series in walk-off fashion. Saturday night’s game on ESPNU ended on James McCann’s 3-run home run that gave the Razorbacks a 4-3 win in front of a record 11,103 delirious fans. LSU, after going scoreless over the first 17 innings of the series, had scored three runs in the top of the 9th before McCann’s shot in the bottom of the inning.

Sunday’s game ended on Kyle Robinson’s sac fly to centerfield to score Bo Bigham for a 5-4 win and the series sweep. It’s just the third time Arkansas (23-8, 6-6) has swept LSU since joining the SEC in 1992. The Razorbacks are now a game behind Alabama in the SEC West. LSU (21-11, 3-9) has won just one of its four SEC series this season. Austin Nola’s 6th inning grand slam gave the Tigers their four runs. 28,657 fans packed Baum Stadium for the 3-game set.

Sooner Pain, Cowboys Gain…

Oklahoma State continues to make some noise in the Big 12 after a 3-game sweep of Missouri. The Cowboys’ 7-3 win over the Tigers on Sunday gives the program its first conference series sweep since April 27, 2008.

OSU (24-8, 8-4) are in third place in the Big 12 standings, behind Texas and Texas A&M. The Cowboys finished last season with a 29-26 overall record, including just 8-19 in conference play.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma (24-8, 6-5) dropped two of three games at Kansas State. The series loss is the second for the Sooners in Big 12 play this season, to equal their total from all of last year’s College World Series team. It’s a big series win for K-State (18-12, 4-8), which takes a series from OU for the first time in 10 years and earns its first conference series win of 2011.

California Crash…

Three California schools, Cal, Stanford and Fresno State, all suffered series upsets over the weekend. Maybe #18 Cal was breathing a sigh of relief after finding out the program had been spared the ax prior to its series at Arizona, but the Golden Bears lost two of three in Tucson to the Wildcats. Cal’s Justin Jones was tagged for 7 ER in 4 1/3 IP in Sunday’s 10-8 loss. Golden Bear Erik Johnson and Wildcat Kurt Heyer each fanned 11 in the series-opener, but neither earned a decision as Arizona scored three in the bottom of the 9th to win 5-4. Arizona pounded-out 40 hits in the series.

Jordan Ribera

#10 Fresno State didn’t lose its series, but that’s due in part to the fact that the WAC plays 4-game conference series. The Bulldogs (22-5, 2-2) dropped two of its first three games at #50 San Jose State (21-11, 2-2) and then pulled-out a 5-3 win in Sunday’s finale to settle for the tie. Last year’s DI home run leader, Jordan Ribera, hit a three-run homer to break out of a season-long swoon, while closer Charlie Robertson earned his 10th save of ’11. Ribera is still batting just .223 with 2 HR and 11 RBIs after belting 27 HR with 69 RBIs last year.

#14 Stanford dropped two of three in its series at USC as well. The Cardinal (15-9, 3-3) has played five of its first six weekend series on the road against the likes of Vanderbilt, Rice, and Texas. They host the aforementioned red hot Oregon State Beavers next weekend. The series win was the first for the Trojans (13-19, 4-5)  in their last five series vs. Stanford. Logan Odom tossed 7.0 scoreless innings in Sunday’s 6-2 series clincher. All three of his wins this year have come over ranked teams.

Tallahassee Tar Heels…

#8 North Carolina (29-5, 12-3) did something this weekend that it hadn’t done in 16 years-win a series against #7 Florida State (23-9. 9-6) in Tallahassee. The Tar Heels won 7-6 in Sunday’s series finale to end the Seminoles’ streak of 25 straight Sunday wins. UNC reliever Michael Morin earned saves Saturday and Sunday after relief stints of 1.0 and 3.0 innings, respectively.

Historic Spartans…

Michigan State made history after sweeping reigning Big Ten champion Minnesota for the first time ever. The MSU-Minnesota series dates all the back to 1925, and it also marks the first time the Spartans (20-7, 5-1) took back-to-back series against the Golden Gophers (10-12, 2-4) after taking two of three at Minnesota last year. Brandon Eckerle leads a Spartan offense that’s batting .316 with a .439 average. First baseman Jeff Holm is the top run-producer with a .398 average, 4 HR, 29 RBIs, 13 stolen bases, and an 1.102 OPS. The Michigan State pitching staff sports a 2.70 ERA. Starters Kurt Wunderlich and Tony Bucciferro are each 6-1.

(Front page photo courtesy Arkansas.)