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Oregon State followed its dominating performance on Friday with another one this afternoon, gliding past Utah for a 5-1 win. Sophomore Andrew Moore won his second game of the season, scattering eight hits and only one earned run.
The Beavers slowly picked away at the Utes, wearing down the undermatched hosts. Kavin Keyes drew first blood with a deep homer to right field to leadoff the second inning, his first of the season. In the third it was a Keyes single that led to another run, as Jeff Hendrix advanced to third, then plated the second run of the game after the Ute second basemen booted the ball. An RBI single for Trevor Morrison in the fourth made it 3-0 Beavers, and the game was broken open an inning later when Dylan Davis doubled to score Michael Conforto, then scored himself on a single by Logan Ice. That capped a stretch wherein Oregon State scored at least one run in each inning from the second through the fifth.
Utah scored its lone run of the game in the bottom of the sixth on an AJ Young RBI double. But just as the home crowd started to get into the game, Moore got out of the jam with a strikeout of Cory Hunt to strand Young at third. That deflated any hopes of a comeback, and while the Beaver bats stayed quiet for the remainder of the day, the damage was already done.
After Moore put in his 6.1 innings, Max Engelbrekt, Trent Shelton, Brandon Jackson, and Scott Schultz all came on in relief. They only gave up a combined one hit as the bullpen continues to trend upward. Bret Helton lasted four innings on the mound for Utah and dropped to 2-1 with the loss.
Keyes and Morrison were without a doubt the players of the game, each going 2 for 5 with one RBI apiece. There was no talk of a no-hitter for the third time in two weeks on this occasion, but Moore was terrific when he had to be. He recorded three strikeouts without issuing a walk as he improved to 2-1 on the season. Hendrix appears to be back in form after missing several games with a hamstring injury. He played last night but did not record a hit. Freshman Caleb Hamilton was the lone Beaver starter to not get a hit today, striking out three times and grounding out the other.
The win was Oregon State's ninth straight, improving the record to 17-3 on the season. The Beavers are also, of course, 2-0 in Pac-12 play after defeating Utah on Friday. The Utes dropped under .500 with the loss at 8-9. They did notch wins against Indiana and Nebraska earlier in the year, but are 4-6 since.
Junior left-hander Jace Fry will get the ball from Pat Casey tomorrow as the Beavs look for the sweep. Fry comes into the weekend with a record of 3-0 and a 2.01 ERA. First pitch is at 12:00 PM Pacific from Salt Lake City.
--@ConnorPelton28
