Thoughts from Goss: USC 5, OSU 2

Game tied at two.... Bottom of the eighth... no outs.... runners on first and second. 

And it's a bunt down the third base line.... USC will try to wheel play... Pinkerton fields the bunt.... back to Green covering third... who fires across the diamond to first and it's a double play!!! 

How did we not score any runs in that inning???

For anyone who attended/watched/followed Friday's series opener, it was just more of the same on Saturday afternoon in Corvallis. 

The Beavers had their chances... after all, they did have the go-ahead runner(s) on base in five innings. They just couldn't get the clutch hit or execute the fundamentals when it mattered, and USC comes away with a quick series win in Corvallis. 

Now, the Beavers will come out on Sunday to try and avoid a sweep and salvage something out of this series before heading down to play UCLA next week. 

I'm not questioning Pat Casey's decision to bunt for the second consecutive time with one out and runners on first and second in the eighth inning. It's the philosophy that Casey has been practicing for many years now: the outs game. Stefen Romero's bunt just fell right into the jaws of USC's wheel play, which I've never seen work so well. Our speed on the basepaths wasn't great with Ortiz and Norris, with Romero at the plate. But I see where Casey is coming from in sacraficing Romero to get Ortiz to third with one out. 

USC just simply took advantage of the momentum from the double play in the eighth, and quickly strung four hits together to overtake the Beavers and get the lead for good. 

I thought Greg Peavey pitched very well. He got off to a bit of a slow start as it only took USC four pitches to score a run in the first inning. But after that, he settled in a bit, gave up another run in the third, but other than that, pitched very well. He got into some trouble in the seventh, but Kraig Sitton bailed him out with a big double play to end that inning.

Like everyone has been saying, that's a tough loss and series to swallow. You just don't see the Beavers squander opportunities like that very often.

All we can do now is salvage Game 3 with Jorge on the mound, and go take care of business in Los Angeles. 

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)