Oregon St. sloshed their way to another wet win, this time dumping Portland 8-2 Tuesday night.
After a rain delay, Portland jumped ahead early 1-0, disposing of Oregon St. starting pitcher Riley Wilkerson in the process. But the Beavers bounced back, with 4 different 2 run at bats in 5 innings in the middle of the game, most of which were played in a torrential downpour.
Both the rain and the Oregon St. offense finally relented, but the damage was done.
The Beavers should have put the game away earlier than they did, but didn't capitalize on a couple of opportunities for big innings, but the Pilots also helped bury themselves with a couple of errors, and a lost ball in the lights that fell in right field to open the door for one of the multiple run innings.
Overall, the Beaver bats had a very good night, hammering out 15 hits, a .429 average, and 7 earned runs, against a Pilot pitching staff that entered the game with a 2.00 ERA, and having held opposing hitters to a .200 batting average.
Scott Schultz went 3 1/3 innings in relief of WIlkerson, giving up 4 hits, and getting the win, while Matt McCallister took the loss for Portland, his first setback of the season.
Tyler Smith had 3 RBIs for Oregon St., and Kavin Keyes showed signs of snapping out of his recent hitting slump, going 3 of 4 at the plate.
Oregon St. coach Pat Casey used 6 pitchers, and got 25 players into the game, but avoided having to use either Matt Boyd or Tony Bryant. Casey had made the game a priority, having said before the game that only the 3 weekend starters, Ben Wetzler, Dan Child, and Jace Fry, were "unavailable".
"We won't jeopardize our weekend, but there are a lot of arms and players on the team, and we are going to use them to get this one," Casey said.
It was just the 7th loss of the season for Portland. The Pilots are off to the second best start in the history of their program. It was also the 13th consecutive win for Oregon St. against Portland.
Oregon St. (18-8, 6-3) leave tomorrow for a week long, 5 game road trip, starting with Pac-12 games in Tempe against Arizona St. on Thursday and Friday evenings, followed by a Saturday afternoon contest.
The Pac-12 avoids playing on Easter Sunday unless weather forces it. The Beavers will spend Easter traveling to Reno, where they will play the Nevada Wolfpack on Monday and Tuesday to wind up the trip.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com