University of Oregon
Oregon State
Elite Pitching To Be On Display At PK
05/10/17 | Baseball, @GoDucksMoseley
Oregon's David Peterson and the staff for top-ranked OSU will face off this week at PK Park with dozens of MLB scouts on hand.
Grandstands in PK Park will be packed this weekend, with fans in green and yellow, and fans in orange and black. And also, a few dozen folks behind home plate holding radar guns and notebooks.
Some of the best pitching in all of college baseball will be on display this weekend when Oregon hosts No. 1 Oregon State in a three-game series beginning Thursday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network). The Ducks, who are clinging to faint hopes of a postseason berth, will throw ace left-hander David Peterson on Friday at 7 p.m., while the Beavers will field a staff headlined by their own ace lefty, Luke Heimlich, along with the national pitcher of the month for April, Jake Thompson.
"Heimlich's arguably one of the best left-handed pitchers in the country, and we think we have one," UO coach George Horton said Wednesday. "There's a lot of good pitching here this weekend – good baseball players, as well."
Last week, Baseball America released an updated list of the 200 prospects for this June's MLB draft. Peterson was No. 16, Heimlich was No. 31, Thompson was No. 85 and OSU righty Drew Rasmussen was No. 115. Oregon State first baseman K.J. Harrison was No. 56.
As of Tuesday, some 15 Major League Baseball clubs planned to have personnel on hand at PK Park this weekend. At least 30 scouts were issued tickets for each day in the three-game series.
The Ducks (26-18, 9-12) hope to put on a good show for them, despite staggering into the Civil War series. Oregon lost 2-1 in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Washington State on Saturday, couldn't protect a four-run eighth-inning lead in the series finale Sunday and then lost 3-2 at Portland on Tuesday.
"We've put ourselves in a tough situation," said Peterson, who struck out 20 against Arizona State in his last home outing, and became Oregon's single-season strikeout record-holder with 117 last week at WSU. "We'll take one game at a time, and see how it goes. … You want to play against and beat the best, and we have a chance to play the best team in the country. It's a big challenge, and one that I – and I know a lot of the guys – are looking forward to."
Peterson pitched the opener of Saturday's doubleheader against the Cougars, an 8-2 victory for the Ducks. Because that series started a day later than expected, and the Civil War is set to begin Thursday, Peterson won't fill his normal opening game slot.
Horton will wait until Thursday evening to announce his starter for that game. Peterson will go Friday, and Saturday is also up in the air after No. 2 starter Matt Mercer pitched into the ninth in the nightcap of the doubleheader at WSU.
The good news is, No. 3 starter Cole Stringer only threw 61 pitches Sunday, a light enough workload that he could get the ball Thursday. Whoever pitches for Oregon, he'll be tasked with steadying the UO ship after three straight one-run losses in the midst of a postseason race.
"To a man everybody's probably trying a little too hard, (including) the coaches," Horton said. "You coach harder, sometimes that translates into making the guys tighter, and playing tighter. We're just not playing very well, is the bottom line."
That makes this a particularly tough time to be facing the Beavers (38-4, 21-3), who have a 6.5-game lead in the Pac-12 standings and need two wins to get coach Pat Casey to 1,000 for his career. Oregon State leads the nation in ERA (1.99), and boasts individuals ranked first (Heimlich, 0.71) and fifth (Thompson, 1.20) in the country.
But with three weeks left in the regular season, the Ducks know it's now or never.
"I'm sure they're a frustrated group, just like we're a frustrated coaching staff," Horton said. "As their leaders, we need to get beyond the frustration and get to the next thing. Life doesn't always deal you what you want, and we've got two choices: We can roll over and give up, and we can get up off the deck and try to have a good practice (Wednesday), and look forward to the opportunity.
"My mission will be to remind them that we've still got some games to play; we're not quite dead yet. We'd have to do something really spectacular, but it's worth fighting for. And it's the only way I know how to do it."
