Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-27-1, 5-10) at Oregon State (22-11, 6-6) at 2:05 PM PDT - Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, Corvallis, OR - KEJO 1240 AM & KPOJ 620 AM - Video and Audio Stream on Beaver Nation Online, for a fee
Gametracker
Oregon St. goes for the sweep as they conclude their weekend series with Arkansas Pine Bluff, having hammered out a 12-2 win Saturday afternoon.
The Beavers slowly inched away in the early going, with single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings, though they could have opened things up a lot more. Oregon St. got only the single run in the second, despite, loading the bases with only 1 out, and left the bases loaded as well.
Tyler Smith was thrown out stealing in the third, the first time all season that's happened, immediately before Ryan Dunn went yard, homering to left center.
Things began to change in the fifth inning, however, as Ryan Gorton got an RBI double, and Jake Rodriguez a 2 RBI single, and Oregon St. doubled their advantage to 6-0.
Jace Fry, who turned in a stellar performance, and got the win that improved his record to 3-2, allowed only 3 hits, but 2 of them came against Wilton Guzman and James Boulware, the Golden Lion's first 2 hitters in the top of the 6th inning, who also happened to be the 8th and 9th hitters in Arkansas Pine Bluff's batting order.
Fry didn't allow another hit, but an error by Smith, a sacrifice, and a passed ball allowed both Guzman and Boulware to score unearned runs, pulling Arkansas Pine Bluff within 6-2.
That was the end of the uncertainty though. After Oregon St. loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6th, Michael Conforto came through with a 3 RBI triple down the right field line, and Dunn singled to score Conforto. Jake Rodriguez eventually hit into a double play, but that scored Dunn, making it a 5 run inning.
Joey Matthews ended things with a homer to left center to lead off the 7th, as the sensible 10 run rule is in effect for this weekend's non-conference series.
The win was Oregon St. coach Pat Casey's 600th at Oregon St.
Fry threw only 64 pitches to get the economical win, while Golden Lions' starter Vince Newton took the loss, after going 4 innings, dropping him to 0-2 for the season.
Smith drew 3 walks, but saw his 14 game hitting streak come to an end.
Saturday Pac-12 action saw a couple of shutouts, as #16 Oregon blanked #6 Stanford 5-0, and Arizona St. squished USC 3-0. The Ducks' win coupled with #17 UCLA's 15-3 blowout win over #4 Arizona in Tucson allowed Oregon to pull into a first place tie with the Wildcats. The Bruins, who hammered the 'Cats' pitching for 20 hits to go along with 5 Arizona errors, who will be in Corvallis next weekend, are only 1 game behind.
Meanwhile, Utah scratched out a 4-3 win at Washington St. in 10 innings, and California downed Washington 5-2.
Senior RHP Taylor Starr (2-1, 4.95 ERA) is ticketed to make the Sunday start for Oregon St., as Starr takes another step down the road to recovery after missing almost all of the last 3 seasons overcoming multiple elbow surgeries.
Arkansas Pine Bluff will decide on their starter at game time.
The 10-run rule also won't be invoked in today's game.
Go Beavers!