Oregon State freshman infielder Kavin Keyes matched catcher Andrew Susac for the longest hitting streak on the team this season at 14 games. He has hit .438 in that stretch with seven RBIs. He’s batting .361 on the season.

“I’m seeing it pretty good right now,” Keyes said. “I’m just trying to keep my approach and hit the ball hard. A lot of it is being smart, and some of it has been lucky with the ball finding holes.”

Making Keyes’ success more impressive is that he graduated a semester early from high school and should be playing his senior season at Alta High in Sandy, Utah.

“It makes it fun, and exciting that I’m able to play,” Keyes said. “It’s fun to be around a bunch of good players. If someone has a bad day someone picks him up. We are really together as a team right now.”

Coy with pitching?
There are options with the pitching rotation this weekend even though the series starts a day earlier due to Easter on Sunday.

Usual Friday starter Sam Gaviglio and Saturday starter Josh Osich could go a day earlier or Casey could let them go on their regular days and go with the group of pitchers still vying for the No. 3 starter spot Thursday or Friday.

Scott Schultz and Ben Wetzler threw less than 60 pitches Sunday in less than five innings of work each. And there’s a fresh James Nygren available.

“Sam is going to make the decision for us,” Casey said. “If he’s ready to go (today), he’ll go. If not, we have options. We have confidence in the rest of the guys.”

Gymnastics honored
The gymnastics team, which finished eighth at the NCAA Championships last weekend, will be honored at Thursday’s game.

Senior Jen Kesler will throw out the first pitch. The team will sign autographs in the main lobby of the stadium from 4:30-5 p.m.

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