Former Knights Start Civil War Opener.

Southpaw Tyler Anderson of UO Outduels OSU's Sam Gaviglio

You could not have asked for a better pitching matchup for the opener of the Civil War Series at PK Park. Junior hurlers Sam Gaviglio (pictured with the Corvallis Knights in 2009) of Oregon State and Tyler Anderson of Oregon are two of the top Friday night starters in Division I baseball.

Gaviglio and Anderson were teammates in 2009.

Gaviglio (1-0, 0.00) started two games for the Knights before having to cut short his summer season due to injury while Anderson (0-0, 3.86) made five relief appearances before he too had to shut it down for the summer for precautionary reasons.

The aces of the Beavers and Ducks have posted gaudy numbers this spring as Gaviglio started Friday's game 11-1 with a 1.72 ERA and Anderson 7-3 with a 2.24 ERA.

Anderson got the best of Gaviglio as the southpaw from Las Vegas tossed 7 1/3 innings of four-hit baseball while allowing only one run and striking out 10 to earn his eighth win as the Ducks took game one of the three-game series 4-1.

Both Anderson and Gaviglio were recently recognized in Baseball America as Tyler was rated the #4 left-handed pitching prospect and a first-round talent while Sam was ranked the #69 right-handed pitching prospect and a fifth-/sixth round talent.

In Friday's Oregonian feature titled 'Silent Assassin' Sam Gaviglio leads No. 6 Beavers into Eugene for baseball Civil War by ex-Knights' intern Lindsay Schnell, OSU head baseball coach Pat Casey gave the pride of Ashland, Oregon high praise saying, "We're talking about a guy that I think will go down in the story of Oregon State baseball as one of the premier starting pitchers to ever come through here."

In an interview with The Oregonian prior to last night's game, former Knights' pitching coach and current University of Oregon pitching coach Andrew Checketts spoke very highly of Anderson's work ethic.

"I've been coaching for 10 years and he's the hardest worker I've ever been around," said Checketts, who started his coaching career with the Knights in 2000.

It's likely Anderson will be selected in the first round of the 2011 MLB June draft. Tyler's fastball has reached 95 MPH and he throws multiple pitches for strikes.