Beaver Baseball: On The Road against the Golden Bears (2024)

Regular season goals for the Beavers are to win the Pac-12 and get a top 8 national seed in the tournament. Two thirds of the way through the season the Beavers are on track to meet those goals, although just barely. OSU holds a .5 game lead in the Pac-12 and is the 8th national seed in the most recent D1 projections. The tougher half of the Beavers Pac-12 schedule starts this weekend. Series remain against Oregon and Arizona (the two teams that sit a half game behind Oregon State in the standings), UCLA (a pre-season favorite to challenge the Beavs), Washington State, and this weekend's matchup against Cal.

The Golden Bears had a strong non-conference performance, beating Kansas State and sweeping a solid UConn team. They started off the Pac-12 season by sweeping UCLA, which looked better at the time than it does now, then proceeded to lose the next three series to Oregon, Utah, and Arizona (arguably the 2nd through 4th best Pac-12 teams) before getting back on track with a sweep of WSU last weekend. The Golden Bears are on the outside of the tournament looking in, but a strong second half against a softer schedule (Stanford, USC and Washington close out Cal’s schedule) would put them in a good position, and a series win against OSU would do them even better.

The weekend in Berkeley looks to be a perfect high 60s and clear skies kind of weekend. The games will be carried on Pac-12 Insider and the Beaver radio network.

• Friday - April 19th @ 6:05 PM PT
• Saturday - April 20th @ 4:05 PM PT
• Sunday - April 21st @ 1:05 PM PT

Offense

In a terrifying turn of events, Travis Bazzana was hit on the hand in the top of the 3rd inning of Tuesday’s game against Nevada. Based on Mike Parker’s comments on the broadcast Wednesday it sounds like Bazzana escaped significant injury and could be available this weekend. Injury information coming out of the Beaver baseball team is historically tight, so better to breath out once you see Bazzana’s name on the lineup card.

In his freshman year, Gavin Turley lit the world on fire before the bottom fell out in conference play. He ended up on the bench for weeks at a time working through a slump before busting out at the LSU regional to end the year. Turley has learned and grown from that experience and is carrying an OPS of 1.091 in conference play this year is walking as much as he strikes out (15 of each). His quick bat has been on full display in the last three games, which include two grand slams, three home runs overall, and 12 RBI (we can do our best to forget that the Beavs managed to lose both of Turley’s grand slam games).

The Golden Bears lineup has as much star power as any team not named Oregon State in the Pac-12. Caleb Lomavita is the star of the show when it comes to the Cal lineup. A top prospect in the 2024 MLB draft, the junior catcher stood out last season with a high average and big power bat. He is doing more of the same this season, posting a .336/.401/.622 line that includes 11 home runs and an impressive 9 stolen bases for a 200-pound catcher.

CF Rodney Green Jr. is another one to watch. He is riding a 7-game hitting streak with the last three being multi-hit efforts. His power is coming into form in recent days, 4 of his 10 home runs this season have come since April 9th. SS PJ Moutzouridis (.348/.477/.526) and 1B Peyton Schulze (.345/.401/.547) are both having all-conference type seasons in their own right.

Advantage: Oregon State

Starting Pitching

Eric Segura has hit a bit of a rough patch in his last two starts, throwing 7 total innings between the two and allowing 8 runs. His strikeout to walk ratio has been fine (8 Ks to 1 BB), but both Arizona State and Stanford have been able to make solid contact. It’s no surprise that a freshman is going to have some growing pains in conference play, and Segura’s top end performances already show that he can hang with the best in the country (particularly the Oklahoma State game) but he can use a bounce back this weekend.

The lefty Luke Short has been the Friday starter since the Golden Bears’ series against Oregon on March 15th. He has bounced around throughout his college career, from junior college in Utah to St. Edwards in Austin, TX where he set the school strikeout record. His best effort on that front was in his last start against Washington State where he struck out 9 over 7.2 innings. Short brings a low 90’s fastball to pair with a swing-and-miss curveball.

Going into the season Ian May was the headliner of the staff. He is coming off an injury last year and found his way to the mound for the first time against Arizona State on March 30th. He is still building up his pitch count (35 in his past two starts). He has a high-80s fastball, but pairs that with a solid changeup and plenty of experience.

Tom Mayer is a 5th year senior who transferred to Berkley after 4 years at William & Mary, primarily as a bullpen arm. He has bounced back and forth between Sunday starts and bullpen appearances throughout the year. Mayer’s main pitch is a low-to-mid 90’s sinker and has a 56% ground ball rate to show for it.

Advantage: Oregon State

Bullpen

The Sunday game against Stanford and Wednesday’s tilt against Nevada are ones to forget for the Beaver bullpen. As mentioned in last week’s recap, they are not being helped by defense. An Elijah Hainline throwing error set the stage for Nevada’s 8th inning rally to tie the game, and a Tanner Smith error kept it going, but there were two walks by AJ Hutcheson to start the inning. There are 8 OSU relievers who have 10 or more appearances this year, all a mix of weekend and weekday work. With Kyle Scott back in the mix, as well as the return of AJ Lattery and Laif Palmer, it will be interesting to see how the coaching staff rebalances the innings.

Tyler Stasiowski is the headliner in the Cal bullpen. A fastball/slider guy, Stasiowski has struck out over 30% of hitters on his way to a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings. He is their closer, but 3 saves in 17 appearances tells you they are not afraid to put him in when they need him. Tre Newman is a freshman who started the year as the Friday starter before sliding to the bullpen in the last two weekends. The 6-6 righthander has swing and miss stuff, racking up 6 or more K’s three times in his 9 appearances and is the go-to long man when necessary.

Advantage: Oregon State