Beavs Open Homestand With UCLA
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Opening up a six-game homestand and an April entirely in Oregon, the Oregon State softball team will return to Kelly Field and play its Dam Cancer series against 12th-ranked UCLA this weekend.
Opponent Day/Time TV
UCLA April 5 / 5 p.m. Pac-12 Networks
UCLA April 6 / 2 p.m. Pac-12 Networks
UCLA April 7 / 1 p.m. Pac-12 Oregon
Leading Off
• The Beavers will open a six-game homestand at Kelly Field with the first three against UCLA.
• Oregon State will return home for the first time in almost a month, when they hosted Arizona in the Pac-12 opening series.
• This weekend's games mark the first nationally-televised contests for the Beavers in the 2024 season with the first two being shown on Pac-12 Networks and the finale on Pac-12 Oregon.
By the Numbers
.633: Grace Messmer has a team-leading .633 slugging percentage in Pac-12 play.
2: OSU had two – Madi Simon (Puerto Rico; silver) and Grace Messmer (Canada; bronze) – medal in the fall's Pan-American games in Chile.
3: Both Abby Doerr and Grace Messmer capped the Washington series with identical 3-for-4 lines in the finale on March 30th.
8: Abby Doerr has an eight-game hitting streak, which is the longest stretch in her career. Last year, she had a seven-game hitting streak.
9: Oregon State has nine games of the month's 12 at Kelly Field, which is the most in a single month this season.
12: All 12 of Oregon State's games in April will take place in the Beaver State. Nine will be in the comforts of Kelly Field with the remaining three at Oregon's Jane Sanders Stadium.
50: Three OSU pitchers (E. Garcia, S. Haendiges and L. Hulon) have struck out at least 50 batters so far in the 2024 season. Hulon leads the staff with 59.
The Opposition
• OSU will continue Pac-12 play by welcoming UCLA to Kelly Field for three.
• In the teams' last meeting, the Bruins took all three games of 2023 in Westwood.
• UCLA comes to Corvallis after taking two games over Oregon last week in a rain-shortened series.
• The Beavers and Bruins have met on 127 instances and 30 times in the Berg era.
Home Sweet Home
• Oregon State will play their next six games at home as well as nine of the next dozen
• Next week, Stanford will visit the Beavers as the Pac-12 season rolls on.
• The six consecutive home matchups mark the longest stretch at Kelly Field since 2021, when OSU hosted Washington and Oregon in back-to-back three-game sets.
• Prior to the cancelations from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beavers were slated for eight consecutive games at Kelly Field.
• The home slate wraps up with Utah visiting Kelly Field in the season's penultimate weekend (April 26-28).
Leading the Pac
• Oregon State is the only school in the Pac-12 with three or more pitchers to have recorded 50 or more strikeouts this season.
• Logan Hulon leads the staff with 59 while Sarah Haendiges has 52 and Ellie Garcia follows with 50.
Beavs on TV
• This weekend's contests are the first televised ones of the season.
• Pac-12 Networks will carry the first two before Pac-12 Oregon carries the finale.
• After the Stanford series, the season's remaining nine - including the Rivalry Series - will be shown to national audiences.
Sister, Sister (x2)
• The Beavs have two pairs of sisters on the team: Abby and Paige Doerr of Coburg, Ore., and Deja and Tiara Westbrook of Arcadia, Calif.
Those of Iron, Strength Will Never Yield
• Four Beavs - Lici Campbell, Kiki Escobar, Eliana Gottlieb and Grace Messmer - have played and started in all 34 games so far in 2024.
Putting in Extra Work
• Oregon State has played in three extra-inning contests this season, all of which were in March.
• The three are the most in a season since 2022, which also had three.
• 2023 did not have any games go longer than seven frames.
• Game two at Portland State went to 11 innings, marking the longest game for the Beavs since a 10-inning affair in a 2022 home win over Utah.
• For the second consecutive series finale at Washington, the game needed more than seven. On Saturday, the Beavs and Huskies played nine.
• It marked the first 11-inning game of the Berg era and first since a 9-7 setback in 11, which was in the Norman, Okla. Regional.
Beaver Staff Notes
• Beaver fans will see a mix of familiar and new faces inside the dugout this season.
• Marcie Green makes her return to Oregon State where she will lead the pitching staff. She was previously in Corvallis from 2013-2022 where she capped it off with a trip to the Women's College World Series in her final season.
• Working primarily with the fielders and hitters, Matt Lisle joins Berg's staff with years of experience in college softball, baseball and even Major League Baseball.
• Starting his journey from student manager in 2018, Dominic Garcia enters his first year as a member of the coaching staff. The Beaver alumnus worked his way up to head student manager to video coordinator last season and will oversee player development, technology and data.
• Entering her third year with the program is Sarah Hoechlin, who serves as the Director of Operations. The OSU alumna spent two years as a student manager before a stint with the Corvallis Knights.
Nine New Faces Join the Dam
• The Beavers welcomed nine new student-athletes, two transfers and seven freshmen.
• Hulon (Texas) and Deja Westbrook (Cal Baptist) came via the transfer portal to Corvallis.
• Alysa Del Val, Doerr, Leah Mays, Kaylee Oh, Taverli Tennant, Tiara Westbrook and Ashley Wolfe all are freshmen.
Softball America Accolades
• Kiki Escobar was tabbed by the publication as the sixth-best second baseman in their preseason rankings.
• In their Top 100 List, she was ranked 95th while Sarah Haendiges placed a few spots ahead at 87th.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS)