Schultz Stellar In 4-3 14 Inning Oregon St. Win

Final Score: Oregon St. 4 Seattle 3 (14)

Oregon St.'s junior closer Scott Schultz is used to going longer than just the last inning some prefer to work, but not many of the couple hundred on hand, or the larger group listening, expected him to have to go what would qualify as a "quality start" had it been on the front end instead of the back end of the game.

Schultz took over with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 7th inning with the score tied 3-3, got Nick Latta to strike out on 3 pitches, and then proceeded to roll through 7 more innings having allowed only 4 base runners, and only 2 hits.

It was all necessary because the Beavers managed only 4 base runners over the next 6 innings, and were set down in order twice, before Jake Rodriguez finally drove in Danny Hayes, who had doubled, for what would prove to be the winning run in the top of the 14th inning.

The drama wasn't over yet though, as Michael Conforto had to make a running catch on the warning track, and Schultz had to overcome hitting Sean Narby, before getting a popup to end what was, at 4 1/2 hours, the longest game the Beavers have been involved in in over a decade, either in terms of innings, or elapsed playing time.

Schultz, who was the 6th pitcher of the day for Oregon St., picked up his second win of the season, improving to 2-1 with his 83 pitch effort. Mason Stidham, who threw the 14th inning for Seattle, and was the 6th Redhawk to take the mound, took the loss in his first decision of the season.

Oregon St.'s first ever visit to Bellevue was originally going to be for a 2 game series, but that was scaled back in order to not have the Beavers out on the road quite so long. For a while, it looked like the teams were going to get those 18 innings all in after all.

Much earlier, it looked like it might be Oregon St's day, when Hayes hammered his second homer of the season to right field in the second inning, driving in Ryan Barnes ahead of him. But Seattle answered in the bottom of the inning, when Latta tripled on a hit Dylan Davis couldn't contend with, and both Latta and Ryan Somers ahead of him scored on an error on the relay by Tyler Smith.

The Redhawks loaded the bases in the 3rd inning despite having Nate Esposito throw out Chase Fields trying to steal, ending the day early for Beavers starter Dan Child, who struggled with location, and allowed 5 hits and the first 2 runs.

Tony Bryant took over and got Somers to strike out, but gave up singles to Brian Olson and Cullen Hendrickson the next inning, as the Redhawks took a 3-2 lead.

The Beavers scratched out a run to tie the game in the 6th, when Tyler Smith scored after a couple of infield fielders' choice putouts.

Both teams had missed opportunities and things they would do differently if they had a do-over.

Smith tripled to lead off the 8th, but the Beavers couldn't push him in. Brandon Jackson, who took over for Bryant in the 6th inning, issued back to back walks, but the Redhawks couldn't capitalize, as Max Englebrekt came on and got back to back strikeouts. And as noted, Seattle loaded the bases again in the 7th before Schultz shut them down.

The win improved 7th ranked Oregon St. to 31-8 for the season, and salvaged a winning record for the 5 game northern road trip. The Beavers went 3-2, with wins at Portland and Seattle bookending the weekend series Washington won 2 games to 1 by sweeping Saturday's double header.

Seattle, which had won 3 of their last 4 games, slipped back to 15-24 for the year.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com