Arizona Hammers Oregon St.

Oregon St. starter Andrew Moore did not have his stuff today, but Arizona's Trent Gilbert, who went 3 for 5 did, and as a result, it was over in a hurry, though it took a long time to actually get over.

Gilbert made Moore pay for a pair of first inning singles with a 2 RBI double to get Arizona out to a 2-0 lead, and then backed up Kevin Newman's 3rd inning leadoff single with an RBI triple that started what would be a 4 run inning that made it 6-0, as Bobby Dalbec followed with an RBI single, Riley Moore added an RBI double off the right field wall, and Scott Kingery added another RBI single.

It could have been worse but for a case of over-aggressive base running that saw the inning end prematurely when the 'Cats tested Michael Conforto's arm, and Moore was gunned down at the plate.

Moore, who took the loss, was done though, and though Zach Reser came on and did a good job, Oregon St. pitching coach Nate Yeski did what he usually does when a game goes badly for the Beavers, and instead of finding an inning eater, burned through a half dozen pitchers out of the bullpen chasing a lost cause.

It began by using usual Tuesday starter Jake Thompson, proceeded to using 4 pitchers in the 7th inning, which limited the 'Cats to only 1 more run, but ended with yet another late game melt-down, as Arizona padded their lead with 4 more runs in the 8th, as Chandler Eden uncorked another pair of wild pitches, both of which produced runs.

By the time things were over, Arizona had hammered Oregon St. pitching for 17 hits.

Meanwhile, 'Cats starter Cody Hamlin did one of the better jobs of scattering lots of ineffectual hits you will ever see.

Oregon St. got someone on base in every inning, and had a hit in all but the 7th, when Jeff Hendrix reached after being hit by a pitch, and touched up Hamlin for a dozen hits. Yet the Beavers only scored twice, and one of those came in the 9th, when Conforto and Dylan Davis connected for back to back doubles, but long after the issue had been decided.

The Beavers had chances, but Conforto grounded out with runners on the corners to end the 5th, and a chance to get back into the game got away in the top of the 6th.

Davis and Kavin Keyes led off with back to back singles, the first time the Beavers were able to get more than 1 hit in an inning off Hamlin, and Hamlin then hit Gabe Clark with a pitch to load the bases with no outs.

But all Oregon St. could do was get a single run on Logan Ice's sacrifice fly.

The Beavers had the top of the order up in the 7th, but Trevor Morrison struck ut for the 3rd time in the game, and 6th in the weekend, and after Hendrix got hit, both Conforto and Davis flew out, effectively ending any chance of a comeback.

Hamlin got the win to improve to 4-2, after working 8 2/3 innings, before allowing his first baseman Dalbec to close out the game. Arizona snapped a 6 game Pac-12 losing streak, and an 8 game overall skid, with the win, improving to 12-7 for the season, and 2-6 in the conference.

Moore dropped to 2-2 for the season, and Oregon St. fell to 20-6, and 5-3 in Pac-12 play.

The series will be decided tomorrow, with a high noon showdown in Tucson.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com