I watched Oregon State play last night, first time I've ever seen them in person. Couldn't pass up the chance to see the #8 team play when they played right next to my office, right when I got off work. Literally, my office shares the parking lot with the baseball facilities, so I just left my truck where I normally park and strolled over. Shortest walk I've ever had into a ball game.
Our guys played pretty well overall, some of the pitching was particularly good. Though from watching the Beavers, and just knowing that whole west-coast small-ball ethos (which I hate), they're probably not the deadliest of hitting teams. Still, they weren't able to muster much. 2 runs on 5 hits....it could've been worse. Unfortunately our guys couldn't plate any runs off of just 3 hits. They did have some great at bats, drew some walks and HPBs, but stranded all the runners. Managed to load the bases at one point, but Oregon State's guy pitched out of it. But overall, we played competitively, and weren't even close to run off the field. It's possible they could've kept the Beavers off the board if the 2B had played more aggressively. He definitely did not attack the ball early on, he looked reeeeeal tentative letting the ball come to him, and it cost a couple of on-bases, which OSU parlayed into runs. Now that I think about it, after he settled down, and after OSU scored a run in the first and second innings, they never scored again. It looked to me like a couple of our guys might have been a little awestruck by the moment, and they certainly played like it at first.
Which makes me wonder....how good, really, is Oregon State? We played both Texas and Texas A&M earlier this year, and they blasted us into orbit. I know not to read too much into a single game, but still. Also, just eyeballing both of those teams.....I wasn't particularly blown away by what I was seeing with OSU. Their pitchers were a bunch of fast balls and.....that's almost it. There was a truly beautiful slider at one point, but anything but the fastball was rare, and not particularly impressive. They did have 2 or 3 guys who consistently touched mid-to-high 90's, so that's something. The umpire's strike zone moved, expanded, contracted, warped into other dimensions....yeah, I'm the cliche fan, but I was right there and I saw what I saw. So it's hard to say how that affected the pitching and the hitting.
It's been a while since I've been to a college beisbol game, and though the stadium and crowd are not what I'm used to, it was still super fun. Most of the people sitting around me were family of the players. The couple sitting directly behind me were the parents of the DH, and dammit, he actually did bat a run in at the bottom of the 3rd, but Oregon State challenged and then he was ruled out at first base. I had a great, and close, view of first base and I thought he was safe, barely. Then later as everybody began getting the replays on their phones, it clearly looked like he was safe. Not even a tie, which would still go to the runner. Even ESPN's scrub announcers said they didn't see how you could overturn that. At the end of the 2-0 loss, I told the dad "I still think your boy had an RBI and it should've been 2-1." He chuckled and said he was just happy they didn't get embarrassed.
I also figured out where all the hot chicks at our college are. They're dating the baseball players. I have pretty limited encounters with students, but when I do go walking through campus, I've lamented that there don't seem to be any good-looking girls around like when I was in school. We must have some somewhere.....or maybe these girls don't go to school, maybe they just know the players from elsewhere. But I kept seeing very pretty girls, and sitting alone. I kept thinking that's odd, you don't usually see a girl like that sitting alone, particularly at a ball game....that she looks vaguely bored by. Then it dawned on me....they're just there for their boyfriend. Welp, good for those players. After getting choked out for a big fat 0 on your home field, at least you've got a cutie to keep you company afterwards.
Supposedly OSU's pitcher for tonight's game is supposed to be one of the best, if not the best, pitcher in the country. Wouldn't mind checking out another one, but I've got plans the rest of the weekend, starting with a BBQ at my dad's this afternoon.
