Oregon State's Drew Rasmussen tosses perfect game vs. WSU

WSU baseball got off to a solid start this season, but that progress has come screeching to a halt as the Cougars dropped to 1-4 in Pac-12 play thanks to a perfect game thrown by Oregon State's Drew Rasmussen in a 3-0 victory for the Beavers in Corvallis on Saturday.

The Cougars are now 12-10 overall.

To be fair, WSU hasn't had the easiest schedule to contend with to open Pac-12 play. Oregon State is in the top 25, and USC -- whom they opened with last weekend -- is in the top 10. And both series took place on the road.

The bright side for WSU is that Joe Pistorese continues to perform well in his Saturday starter role. Despite the stiff opposition, he tossed a complete game, allowing just three runs. He struck out six and walked two.

But the day obviously belonged to Rasmussen, someone I presume was recruited by WSU who elected to go to the perennial power in Corvallis. He went to high school at Mt. Spokane, where the Spokesman-Review reports he had a 0.57 ERA in his senior year and rejected a chance to start his professional career after being drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 39th round.

"Unreal," Rasmussen told The Oregonian. "It's been an unreal day. It's been awesome. It's been so much fun. Not much more I can say. Pretty surreal right now. It was a fun game and I had a lot of help behind me and let's go get a series sweep tomorrow."

The Cougars and Beavers wrap up the series at 1 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks.

NCAA tournament

March Madness rolled on yesterday, but about the only thing "mad" about it was the performance of UCLA, which rolled past No. 14 seed UAB and into the Sweet 16. The Pac-12 is now undefeated in the tournament, and only No. 1 seed Wisconsin stands between No. 8 seed Oregon making it so that the Conference of Champions claims 25 percent of the spots in the next round.

I doubt Dana Altman's Fighting Ducks can do it, but that's the fun of March, isn't it?

And while we're talking about UCLA, a thought: Don't be that person who says the Bruins' two wins validated their spot in the tournament. Only a team's pre-tournament performance can validate its spot in the tournament -- unless you're completely convinced that there is no possible way Temple, Colorado State and Richmond couldn't have beaten SMU and UAB on a neutral floor?

The Bruins certainly deserve credit for taking advantage of the opportunity granted to them. But we see teams of questionable quality beat a pair of NCAA tournament-quality teams in their conference tournaments. It's not like it's some yet-to-be-seen achievement.

You can follow SB Nation's coverage of the tournament here.

Links

Drew Rasmussen is Perfect in Win over Cougars - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Freshman Drew Rasmussen hurled just the fourth perfect game in Pac-12 Conference history in leading No. 25 Oregon State to a 3-0 victory over Washington State in Pac-12 action Saturday afternoon at Goss Stadium.

Area roundup: Mt. Spokane grad Drew Rasmussen perfect against WSU - Spokesman.com - March 22, 2015
Rasmussen was a standout on the mound during his career at Mt. Spokane and was selected in the 39th round of the 2014 MLB First-Year Player Draft by Arizona, but elected to attend Oregon State. During his senior year at Mt. Spokane, Rasmussen went 11-1 with a 0.57 ERA, garnering first-team all-state and first-team all-league honors.

Drew Rasmussen throws perfect game for Oregon State in 3-0 win | OregonLive.com
Rasmussen recorded six of his outs by fly ball and 11 by ground balls. Of his 10 strikeouts, six came against the top four batters in the Cougars' (12-10, 1-4) lineup, including two apiece to No. 2 Wes Hatten and No. 3 Ian Sagdal.

Javelin Throwers Happy to Compete in LA - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
A limited number of Washington State track and field competitors performed at the USC Trojan Invitational Friday and Saturday at Loker Stadium-Cromwell Field on the USC campus. Bradly Stevens (redshirt freshman, Snoqualmie, Wash.) threw a lifetime-best in the javelin of 219-feet 10 inches (67.01m) for fourth place. Sam Ferenchak took sixth place with a toss of 207-0 (63.09m) while Kyle Stevens, Bradly’s older brother, opened the season with a toss of 205-4 (62.60m).