PGE Park to host Papé Grand Slam next March

The Oregon State baseball team will play host to perennial Midwest power Missouri State in a three-game series at PGE Park during the second-annual Papé Grand Slam, March 13-15, 2009, it was announced today.

Game times and ticket information will be announced at a later date and will be available at www.pgepark.com and www.portlandbeavers.com.

Last year, the inaugural Papé Grand Slam provided a celebrated launch to the PGE Park season of events by drawing 29,332 fans during Oregon State’s three-game series with the Georgia Bulldogs.

“Coming off an incredibly popular series between two national baseball powers in 2008, we are thrilled once again to play host to the Papé Grand Slam and to give Portland-area fans the chance to see head coach Pat Casey and the Oregon State Beavers in action at PGE Park,” said Merritt Paulson, president and general manager of the Portland Beavers at PGE Park.

The final game of the 2008 Papé Grand Slam attracted a series-high 11,166 fans, which stands as the Pacific-10 Conference single-game record for a contest not played in Omaha. The special series drew an average of 9,777 fans per game as Portland-area baseball enthusiasts and Oregon State backers overwhelmingly responded to the unique opportunity to watch the pair of top-level collegiate teams in action at the unique and historic ballpark located in downtown Portland.

Oregon State, winners of back-to-back College World Series titles in 2006 and 2007, responded by winning two of the three games against the Bulldogs, who went on to a second-place finish in the 2008 College World Series.

Next year’s opponent, Missouri State, finished the 2008 campaign with an impressive 40-17 record, including an 18-6 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. In 2003, the Bears, then known as Southwest Missouri State, advanced to their first College World Series after winning both the NCAA Lincoln Regional and the NCAA Columbus Super Regional.

Under Casey, the Oregon State Beavers reached the College World Series in 2005 and achieved the pinnacle of national prominence in 2006 by surviving a string of elimination games on their way to their first national championship. Oregon State duplicated the feat in 2007, becoming the first team in a decade to repeat as College World Series champion by winning all five of its CWS games and capping its impressive run with a 9-3 victory over North Carolina in the title game.