Hornets Baseball (2-7) will host the defending national champion Oregon State Beavers Sunday to round out the 2007 River City Classic.

The Beavers are currently ranked 15th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll and received four votes for the nations top ranking. They are entering the Classic with an impressive 9-1 overall record and are coming off a championship in the Coca-Cola Classic tournament hosted by Arizona State University last weekend.

“They have an excellent program and it’s a feather in our cap to have them come in as the defending national champions,” Hornet Coach John Smith said.

Oregon State Catcher Mitch Canham is a notable member of the talented Beavers squad. He was named to the Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-America Baseball Team. Thus far he has not disappointed the high pre-season expectations, currently batting .517 with 11 RBI and a home run. The Beavers have a team batting average of .402 through the first 10 games.

As good as Oregon State is offensively they’re pitching staff may be better. They currently have a staff ERA of 2.86 and their starters have a perfect 6-0 record. In their season opener at Hawaii-Hilo four Beaver pitchers, including ace Michael Stutes, combined for a no-hitter. Stutes comes into the tournament with a 1-0 record and a 4.41 ERA.

“They’re pitching staff is ungodly,” Smith said. “They come up throwing lasers inning after inning after inning.”

The Hornets lost to Oregon State 3-8 in last seasons River City Classic.

The fourth annual River City Classic is a tournament co-hosted by Sacramento State and UC Davis and will kick off at 2 p.m. Thursday in Davis, Calif. The opening game of the tourney will match the Hornets against the rival Aggies, who will enter the tournament with a 3-5 record.

Thursday’s game is also the next event on the Causeway Cup schedule and it is the first of five scheduled games against the Aggies this season. Davis is currently leading in the Causeway Cup Standings 36.67 to 30.0. Each baseball game is valued at one point in the standings.

Although UC Davis is Sac State’s natural rival Coach John Smith prefers not to emphasize games against the Aggies over any other game. A philosophy that Hornet Coach John Smith likes to pass on to his players is to concentrate on each game equally. In fact he says that if they weren’t playing the Aggies on Thursday he wouldn’t know where the game falls on the schedule.

“I don’t like to lose to them,” Smith said. “I get (upset), but I don’t get any more (upset) losing to them than anybody else.”

The Hornets split two games with the Aggies in 2006. The Hornets will play the University of San Francisco at 2 p.m. Friday and Saint Mary’s at 2 p.m. Saturday in addition to the Oregon State and Davis games.