I'll update this later when I know who Horton's putting on the mound (probably Trent Paddon, Porter Clayton or "Johnny Wholestaff"). We'll be going with our normal Sunday starter, Tyler Ferguson.
In this afternoon's game, Oregon controlled everything early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and holding it until 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th. Then, Xavier had back to back RBI singles, followed by a 3 run HR by their SS, Nashville native Adam Jernigan, to take a 5-3 lead.
In the bottom of the 7th, Xavier tagged another 3 run HR, and looked to be salting it away. Oregon served back with a 3 run HR of its own in the top of the 8th, but then left two ducks on the pond, and trailed 8-6 going into their last inning.
However, the hero became the goat, as Jernigan got the yips and doomed Xavier with too many defensive miscues. He allowed them to tie it up in the 9th, and then spazzed out again in the top of the 10th, allowing Oregon to cruise to an 11-8 victory.
Good news is Oregon's pitching staff is running on empty. In this afternoon's game, they threw 5 pitchers out there. Tessar started and went 5 and 2/3 innings of 3 run ball. He's done. Spencer didn't record an out, but gave up 2 hits and 2 runs, so his arm might be okay to throw tonight, but Horton probably won't want him to. Karraker recorded one out, but gave up a run. Cleavinger went 2 innings, giving up 2 runs. Reed closed it off with 2 innings of shutout ball.
I'd be very surprised if Cleavinger or Reed were available for tonight's game. Hunter threw 3 and 1/3 in relief yesterday, so he's probably available, but may be tired. The starting rotation of Thorpe, Gold, and Tessar should be shut down, as well, leaving Oregon with 7 available pitchers on their roster.
Of the potentially available pitchers, here are their numbers, ranked in order of innings pitched this season:
Trent Paddon: 1-3, 3.38 ERA, 50.7 IP, 21 appearances (3 starts)
Porter Clayton: 2-1, 4.46 ERA, 36.3 IP, 20 appearances (5 starts)
Stephen Nogosek: 1-1, 2.83 ERA, 28.7 IP, 16 appearances (1 start)
Darrell Hunter: 4-1, 2.96 ERA, 27.3 IP, 21 appearances (no starts)
Jack Karraker: 0-0, 3.27 ERA, 11 IP, 10 appearances (1 start)
Cooper Stiles: 1-0, 7.27 ERA, 8.7 IP, 6 appearances (no starts)
Derek Smith: 0-0, 36.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 appearance (no starts)
In theory, Horton could go to Thorpe for a batter to an inning, as managers have pulled that kind of crap before, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Vanderbilt's pitching staff, other than Beede and Fulmer, is completely available.