In front of the largest crowd to ever see a Pac-10 baseball game, the Beavers dropped the second game of the Civil War Series on Saturday night at PGE Park 3-2 in extra innings to the Oregon Ducks.
Greg Peavey started the game for the Beavers, scattering four hits over five innings of work. He didn't give up an earned run for his second straight start, striking out three Oregon hitters along the way.
The Beavers got on the board first in the seventh inning. Stefen Romero led off with a single, then was bunted to second by Jared Norris. Michael Miller walked to put runners on first and second, then John Wallace singled to center field to score Romero from second.
In the Oregon State eighth, Ryan Ortiz singled through the right side and scored on a double by Stefen Romero to move to score to 2-0 in favor of the Beavers.
Trailing by two, the Ducks tied the score in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mark Grbavac was responsible for a run in the inning after he hit Oregon leadoff batter Danny Pulfer. Kraig Sitton would come on in relief of Grbavac, but Pulfer would eventually score from third when Josh Osich walked KC Serna later in the inning. The second Oregon run in the eighth inning also stopped by way of a walk. With the bases loaded, Osich walked Oregon pinch-hitter Darrell Hunter on four pitches to tie the game at two.
The score would stay deadlocked at two through the ninth inning, sending the game into extra innings. Sam Gaviglio came on to pitch for the Beavers in the ninth inning, retiring the Ducks in order. But in the bottom of the tenth, with the score still tied at zero, Gaviglio issued a walk to Oregon's leadoff hitter, Caleb Tommasini, who was quickly moved to second on a bunt. Then, it was pinch hitter John Adamson who doubled to right field to score Tommasini from second and clinch the game in favor of the Ducks.
With the win, the Ducks move to 11-13 on the year and 1-1 in the Pac-10. The Beavers fall to 14-6 and 1-1 in Pac-10 play. The Ducks currently have an RPI of 138, which could hurt the Beavers come Selection Sunday in a few months.
Stefen Romero was 2-for-5 in the game with an RBI. Joey Wong matched Stefen with two hits of his own in three at-bats, and John Wallace went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Game three of the Civil War Series is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Sunday at PGE Park, where 20,000 fans are expected.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)