A pair of weekend island wins were not enough to buttress the Oregon State baseball team’s national standing.
The Beavers on Monday tumbled in the college baseball rankings for the second consecutive week, landing outside the top 10 in the majority of the major polls.
Oregon State fell to No. 10 in the D1Baseball Top 25 and No. 11 in the Perfect Game Top 25, and landed at No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 15 in the Baseball America Top 25. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll will be released Monday afternoon.
It’s the first time this season the Beavers have been ranked outside the top 10 in every major poll and the second time they were not among the top 10 in the D1Baseball poll, which The Oregonian/OregonLive uses for its rankings.
The slide comes after an up-and-down week that saw the Beavers split four games. They opened with a midweek loss to the Oregon Ducks — who swept the four-game rivalry series — rebounded with Friday and Saturday wins at Hawaii, and then suffered a Sunday shutout against the Rainbow Warriors.
Along the way, the Beavers’ bats, which had been so hot most of April, slumped.
Over the last seven games, Oregon State (34-12) has been held to three runs or less five times and been limited to six hits or less six times. Take away one explosive night — an 11-run, 15-hit performance in Friday’s win at Hawaii — and the Beavers are averaging just two runs and 4.8 hits during the frigid stretch.
Unsurprisingly, Oregon State has limped to a 2-5 record during the funk.
The coldest performance came Sunday during a 5-0 defeat to the Rainbow Warriors. Freshman right-hander Cooper Walls and two Hawaii relievers breezed through the Beavers’ lineup, handing OSU its second shutout of the season and allowing just three hits, tied for its fewest of the season.
Oregon State put just four baserunners in scoring position as Hawaii’s staff faced the minimum in five of nine innings. The Beavers have scored just three runs and produced seven hits over the last two games.
Despite the slump, Oregon State remains in position to earn a series win in Honolulu — the teams play the finale of their four-game series Monday night at 9:35.
The game is a part of another busy week for the Beavers, who will host the Portland Pilots on Wednesday night at Goss Stadium, before leaving for a three-game weekend series at the Iowa Hawkeyes, who sit atop the Big Ten Conference standings.
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.bsky.social | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
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