Building The Dam

Beaver Basketball Planning European Trip

2012-05-17T19:00:38Z

Oregon St.'s men's basketball team will be taking a trip to Europe this August 18th thru 28th, and will play several games against teams in Spain, and possibly southern France. The game schedule for the European trip is still being worked out, but head coach Craig Robinson said the Beavers will be facing some very good teams.

NCAA rules allow teams to take a preseason international trip once every four year, and 10 additional practice days are allowed in advance to prepare. With 4 new players now, and 2 players who did not play last year, red-shirt freshman Daniel Gomis and transfer Mike Moyer, and the need to adjust to life after Jared Cunningham, who left early for the NBA, the extra practice and game experience couldn't come at a better time.

"As far as our European trip goes, we wanted to do it in a year when we have a lot of incoming players," Robinson said. "The timing works out perfectly. We have 6 guys who are going to get some game experience from this trip, first and foremost. Secondly, with this trip in preparing for these games, you get 10 days of practice. So that's going to be real helpful for this group of newcomers."

Although the Beavers have 4 returning starters, plus forward Joe Burton who has been a starter at times, as well as a couple of others who have spot started, the adjustments to playing without Cunningham and expanding the role of Eric Moreland will still require some time to work through.

"I think that we are going to be looking for a lot out of Roberto Nelson," Robinson said. "He should move from 6th man to being a regular starter, even though he was playing starter's minutes last year. So he is going to be a big key. I also think Eric (Moreland) has to get into more of a leadership role on the court, and be playing more minutes. I think those two are going to be really important. I also think Challe Barton is going to surprise a lot of people. He's putting in a lot of good work here in the spring, and he's going to be pushing those upperclassmen for playing time."

Robinson has said the focus is more on everybody getting better than replacing Cunningham, noting the goal is to "absorb" his stats, rather than replace them. But replacing an all-conference first team player who was also a defensive all-conference first team selection is a job for everyone, and 3 weeks of extra work should jump start the process.

One player who won't be making the trip is sophomore Rhys Murphy. Murphy requested and has been granted his release from scholarship. Murphy, a psychology major, is reported as "exploring his options", but said he intends to graduate from Oregon St. The 6'7" forward from Sydney, Australia, averaged 5.1 minutes and 1.6 points in 18 games last season, after red-shirting in 2009-10.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com

Brandon Hardin Signs 4 Year Deal With Bears

2012-05-16T04:50:44Z

Brandon Hardin Signs 4 Year Deal With Bears

Former Oregon St. DB & Special Teams standout Brandon Hardin, who was the Chicago Bears' 3rd round pick in this year's NFL draft, has signed a 4 year deal.

Hardin has been impressing the Bears in early workouts.

"He's a quick learner and we're pretty encouraged," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.

Beavers Batter Pilot Pitching

2012-05-16T03:55:44Z

23rd ranked Oregon St. bounced back from a potent second at bat by Portland, and pulled away for a 12-4 win, as the Beavers battered Pilot pitching for a dozen hits, including triples by Kavin Keyes and Dylan Davis that delivered 5 of the runs on 2 swings.

Oregon St. opened a 2-0 lead in the first inning of their last mid-week non-conference game of the season when Max Gordon used a piece of evasive base running to avoid the tag and score on a passed ball, and Michael Conforto scored the first of his 4 runs on the night on Ryan Dunn's RBI single. But Beavers' starter Taylor Starr struggled, and it looked like it would be a long night for Oregon St. when Portland pushed 4 runs across in the 2nd inning.

Starr served up a 1 out walk, and then consecutive singles, followed by a 2 RBI double by Bo Cornish, and also uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the 4th run of the inning, as the Pilots pulled ahead 4-2.

The Beavers quickly erased the deficit with a 5 run second at bat though. With 2 out but 2 on, Portland pitcher Kody Watts intentionally walked Conforto, the conference's RBI leader and home run co-leader, part way thru the at bat. Which didn't directly hurt the Pilots, but the consecutive walks he then issued to Danny Hayes and Dunn did, erasing Portland's lead and ending Watts' abbreviated evening.

J.R. Bunda took over, but after getting ahead of Keyes in the count, Keyes came through with a 3 RBI triple to right, and Oregon St. never looked back.

Starr got into some more trouble in the 4th, giving up consecutive singles, but Scott Schultz came in, got a double play ball, and proceeded to allow only 1 hit over the next 4 innings, which also earned him the win, improving his record to 3-0.

Watts took the loss.

Oregon St. got some insurance runs in the 7th, when Conforto, who was celebrating being selected to play with the USA National Collegiate team this summer, led off with a double, and scored on Keyes' single that gave him a game high 4 RBIs for the evening, and also signaled the end of the night for Bunda.

Switching to Keeler Brynteson didn't help the Pilots though, as Dylan Davis tripled to score Danny Hayes and Keyes, making it 10-4 Oregon St.

The Beavers added another pair of runs in the 8th when Hayes singled to score Tyler Smith, and Dunn sacrificed to score Conforto, who wound up scoring every time he got on base. It gave Dunn 3 RBIs for the game.

Davis came in from right field to take over on the mound in the 9th, and was clocked delivering a fast ball at 100 mph in the process of closing out the win, which was Oregon St.'s 15th in a row over Portland, and 21st in the last 22 meetings.

Despite multiple extra base hits, and several in-inning pitching changes, as well as the 14 runs, the game was still completed in under 2 1/2 hours, proving it does not require over 3 hours to play a baseball game, as has been the usual case with Oregon St. this season.

Portland (25-19, 12-9 in the West Coast Conference) moves up I-5 to play at Washington (26-21, 11-13) tomorrow.

Oregon St. (26-18, 12-9) heads for Pullman next, for a weekend Pac-12 series against Washington St. (25-24, 10-14). The Cougars conquered USC 3-1 tonight.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com

Last MidWeek Game Thread

2012-05-15T23:30:01Z

Portland (25-18, 12-9) at #23 Oregon State (32-17, 13-11) at 5:35 PM PDT at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field - KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM - Audio & Video Stream on Beaver Nation Online, for a fee

Gametracker

Its already time for the last mid-week game of the season for Oregon St., and tonight's outing is the third of the year against the Portland Pilots of the West Coast Conference.

The Beavers took 2 of 3 this last weekend at Utah, and have won 3 of their last 5 games, all decided by 1 run, and the last 2 in Salt Lake City in extra innings.

The Pilots, who are in the thick of the WCC race, took the last 2 of their 3 game series against St. Mary's, but are only 1-6 against the Pac-12, with another at Washington tomorrow, and 2 more games left against Oregon next week.

Both teams are still battling for a post season berth, as the Pilots are only 2 games behind San Diego in the WCC race, which any one of 5 teams could still win.

Senior RHP Taylor Starr (4-2, 4.08 ERA) has started the last 2 mid-week games for the Beavers, both against Oregon, games Oregon St. split, and gets the baseball first again tonight.

Portland's pick to pitch will be freshman RHP Kody Watts (2-2, 3.33 ERA), whom Oregon St. recruited, and is from Skyview High in Vancouver, WA.

The game is the first for Oregon St.'s Michael Conforto since he was named to play for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team this summer. Conforto becomes the 6th Beaver to play for the USA team, joining Kevin Gunderson and Jonah Nickerson in 2005, Darwin Barney in 2006, Kevin Rhoderick in 2008, and Matt Boyd last year.

Oregon St. took the first game against Portland at Goss Stadium 8-2 on April 3rd, and followed that up with a 5-0 win on the bluff in North Portland back on April 16th, extending the Beavers' winning streak against the Pilots to 14 games, dating back to 2004.

Game time temperatures are in the upper 70s with a light north wind blowing out to right field.

Go Beavers!

Basketball LOI On File For Victor Robbins

2012-05-15T20:00:43Z

The tweet from Oregon St. Coach Craig Robinson trickled in on the weekend while I (and a lot of people) were out of town, but its official, 3 star small forward Victor Robbins from Compton High in Compton, CA, is now a Beaver.

Robinson received Robbins' National Letter of Intent late last week, giving Oregon St. 4 signed recruits for this fall.

Robbins is 6'5", and weighs in at 195 lbs.

"He brings a combo of athleticism and (basketball) IQ," Robinson said, "that gives us versatility."

Robbins joins 6'3" small forward Langston Morris-Walker, 6'6" small forward Jarmal Reid, and 6'10" center Maika Ostling in the incoming group.

An extra opportunity opened when Jared Cunningham declared for the draft, and left a year early.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com

Schedule Change For Saturday Baseball

2012-05-15T15:11:00Z

Oregon St.'s game Saturday against Washington St., which was originally scheduled for an earlier afternoon start, has been rescheduled to 4:30 PM PDT, in order to have the game televised by ROOT Sports Northwest. It's the 4th Oregon St. Saturday Pac-12 game to be televised, with one more to come, in the season ending series against Oregon.

Go Beavers!

Beavers Stay At #23 In Baseball Poll

2012-05-14T18:45:03Z

Oregon St. stayed at #23 in the BaseballAmerica.com top 25 poll this week, after going 2-2 last week. The Beavers lost to then #9, but now #6, Oregon, and then took 2 of 3 from Utah. All 4 games were decided by 1 run, and the last 2 contests went extra distance. All 4 were road games as well.

The Ducks were the biggest mover amongst the Pac-12 teams in the poll, climbing to their highest ranking ever after taking 2 games from USC on the heels of their win over the Beavers.

UCLA made no headway, staying at #11, despite beating Pepperdine and then sweeping Washington, all on the road. The Bruins continue on what will eventually be a 9 game series of road trips, with a big game a #8 Cal-St. Fullerton on Tuesday, and then 3 in a row at California.

While a mid-week game, the UCLA-Fullerton St. game could wind up being pivotal for possible Super-Regional sighting and seeding for both teams. The Titans took only 2 of 3 against UC-Santa Barbara (remember those are the guys Oregon St. took 3 of 4 from back on opening weekend?), but they were road games for Fullerton.

Its getting very interesting, as RPIs for everyone are being impacted by seemingly every game anyone plays these days.

Arizona also held steady at #14, after sweeping California. The 'Cats continue to trail the Bruins even though they are ahead of them in the Pac-12 standings, due mostly to the fact that UCLA went into Tempe and took 2 of 3 earlier in the year.

Stanford stayed in the same #17 spot they were in a week ago as well, after sweeping Washington St., next weekend's host for Oregon St. There's more to lose than to gain in a game against the Cougs at this point.

Arizona St. did make a little headway, though, inching up from #19 to #18 after sweeping a non-conference series at Gonzaga, though that had more to do with San Diego losing 2 of 3 to Loyola-Marymount (which did the Beavers no favor either), causing the Toreros to tumble from #18 to #21.

Florida St. stayed #1, despite losing 3 of 4, all to unranked opponents. South Carolina climbed back to #2, after Baylor fell all the way to #7 after the Bears were swept by still unranked Oklahoma in Norman, OK.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com

Oregon St. Softball Receives NCAA Bid

2012-05-14T04:35:03Z

After a 34-21 campaign, including going 9-14 in the Pac-12 Conference, the toughest softball circuit in the country, the Oregon St. softball team is 1 of 8 Pac-12 teams headed for the NCAA tournament.

Actually, the Beavers are one of only two "headed" somewhere, along with Stanford, as the conference has 6 teams hosting regionals. Think about that if you need to know anything about how tough the Pac is, where a team that does not even finish in the top half of the conference gets to host a regional. It's why the conference has won 23 of the 30 CWS that have been contested.

The Beavers are headed for Norman, Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma regional, where they will face Tulsa (41-12) Friday at 5 PM CDT (3 PM PDT). The other half of the the regional has Oklahoma (45-8) hosting LeHigh (40-17). It's the first post-season appearance for Oregon St. in 5 years.

League champion California (50-4), is the overall #1 seed. Other conference teams hosting regionals include Arizona St. (46-7), Oregon (39-15), UCLA (36-18), Arizona (35-17), and Washington (36-17). Stanford (38-17) is headed for the Louisiana-Lafayette regional.

Go Beavers!