Beavers Beat No. 3 ASU in Walk-off Fashion, 4-3

The Beavers used a late-inning comeback to knock off conference heavyweight Arizona State in the bottom of the ninth inning. After ASU scored a run to go up 3-2 in the top of the ninth, the Beavers rallied in the bottom of the ninth to win the game on a hit by Koa Kahalehoe. 

Oregon State starter Greg Peavey didn't have his best outing, walking five and allowing two runs on four hits in his four innings of work. 

Ryan Gorton, who came on in relief of Peavey, threw just over three innings, striking out three and only allowing two hits. 

Mark Grbavac came on to pitch in the eighth inning. He only faced one batter, drawing Raoul Torrez to ground out. 

The Beaver offense came through with eight hits in the game. Seth Blair started the game for the Sun Devils, and Mitchell Lambson came on in relief. 

Arizona State got on the board first in the game, when Matt Newman hit a 2-RBI single with the bases loaded in the third inning. Greg Peavey would get out of the inning by way of a double play, limiting the damage ASU could do with one out and the bases loaded. 

John Wallace showed off his glove in center, making two spectacular defensive plays. With one out and a runner on first for the Sun Devils in the fourth inning, Wallace made a diving catch on a sinking ball hit by Zack MacPhee and doubled off Kole Calhoun to end the inning. 

The Beavers, down 2-0, began to turn on the offense in the bottom of the fifth. Joey Wong walked to lead off the inning, and Stefen Romero was hit by pitch after Ryan Ortiz struck out. With runners on first and second and one out, Jared Norris singled to left-center field, driving in Wong. Then, it was Adalberto Santos who singled to left, driving in Romero from third. A line drive double play ended the inning, but the Beavers were able to tie the game at 2-2 in the inning. 

Wallace came through again with two outs in the seventh inning. After the first two hitters had been retired by reliever Ryan Gorton, Kipnis launched a ball to center that was headed over the fence before Wallace reached over the wall to pull it back and preserve the 2-2 tie.

From RVM, who was at the game: 

Wallace’s two catches were incredible, balls were hanging in the wind but that catch to rob the HR was sweet, but not as good as his diving catch and then doubling the runner up.

The Beavers left a frustrating 13 runners on base in the game, which is usually not a good thing to do against Arizona State. However, the Beavers got (three) key hits when they were needed, and the bullpen kept the Sun Devils from making too much of a late charge.

The Sun Devils did score a run in the top of the ninth inning after Drew Maggi's triple scored Zach MacPhee, who doubled earlier in the inning. 

Trailing by one heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Beavers knew  they needed offense to tie or win the game. Rob Folsom walked to start the inning, and moved up to second on a groundout by Joey Wong. Ryan Ortiz walked to put two on with one out, and Romero walked to load the bases for Jared Norris. Norris hit a fly ball to center field, deep enough to score Rob Folsom from third to tie the game, giving the Beavers at least a shot to win the game in extra innings. Adalberto Santos drew a walk to re-load the bases. It was then Koa Kahalehoe at the plate with two outs. The Beavers had already guaranteed at least extra innings, but Koa singled to left field to drive in Ortiz and end the game. 

The Beavers move to 26-12 with the win, and 10-7 in the conference. But more importantly, the Beavers will have a chance to win the series on Sunday at Goss Stadium.

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