Oregon State just didn't show up to play at Safeco, and lost by a four run deficit, 6-2.
Jim Bryant/ The Oregonian
Mike Stutes had another mediocre road performance. He went 5 and a third innings, gave up seven hits, five runs, walked five, and struck out five on route to his second loss of the season. He had a sub-par outing at Stanford a week ago, and now this performance at Safeco has me wondering about his comfort level on the road, since he's usually stellar at Goss.
Offensively, this was a poorly played game. The Beavers scored two runs off nine hits, but left fourteen (14!) runners on base, and nine in scoring position. The bottom of the order is as close to automatic outs as you can get, as the original three 7-8-9 hitters (Santschi, George, Wong) combined went 1-10. By comparison, Washington's nine hitter, Danny Cox, scored three of Washington's runs. In the fourth inning when the scorew was 3-0, Danny had already scored two of thise. He finished 2-3, with one walk.
Defensively, there were some bright spots. Well, I can remember at least one, and that was when 2B Joey Wong made a diving play up the middle, and with the bases loaded, threw out Michael Burgher (one of the fastest Huskies) at the plate, from one knee right in front of second base. If memory serves me correctly, he's only made one error ALL season. And remember folks, he's a freshman.
This game has to hurt us in the Standings. The Beavers really needed to help themselves out with a sweep, but now the best they can get is 2 out of 3. Joe Patterson takes the hill tonight, and we'll see what happens.
Game 2 of the series is today at 2:00. I probably won't be here to live blog, but I'll be here afterwards to wrap it up.
Go Beavers!
--JB--