Beavs Sweep Doubleheader; Fry Throws No-Hitter

The Beavs played a doubleheader today, starting with Jace Fry who was electric in today's start. The game flew by as NIU starter Alex Klonowski was pitching well too, especially with his curveball, which earned him four strikeouts in five innings. Klonowski was pitching well, and had the Beaver lineup under control. He was pulled going into the 6th inning, perhaps because he was going to face Conforto for the 3rd time, maybe they were concerned about his pitch count, or even the number of walks, but either way reliever Anthony Andres entered and got Conforto out, although the ball was hit deep into center field.

Before the inning was completed though, Kavin Keyes reached base on a walk by Andres, and then Dylan Davis, who had gotten dropped to the 6 spot in this game, crushed a ball over the Ford sign for 2 RBI, and the only runs scored in the game. Beyond the 6th inning the Beavers would not score or really be in dangerous positions, but the two runs scored were all the support needed with Fry pitching a gem.

Fry was the real star of the day, as he was on target all day, throwing 67 strikes out of a mere 99 pitches in the 2-0 win. He only allowed two baserunners on walks all day, and earned 10 strikeouts. He was the star of the day, as he threw only the 5th no-hitter in Oregon State history. The last being Josh Osich in 2011 against UCLA. His curveball was working, along with his fastball and slider, and he hit his spots all day.

After the intermission, the Beavs got back to work, and scored more runs than they had in the entire first game, with Conforto earning one RBI on a single, but the first inning would culminate in a grand slam by Jerad Casper, and the Beavs never really looked back.

OSU started Scott Schultz, who had recovered from the flu, and pitched all 7 innings of the game. NIU starter Jordan Ruckman got pulled in the third inning after a couple of wild pitches, and while the relievers held up the damage was already done. It stayed a little sloppy after that, and it would cost the Beavs two runs, but it was inconsequential. The Beavs would add more runs, but the Huskies seemed to be a out of it after the no-hitter and the grand slam. OSU would get a 3-run shot from Gabe Clark as well in the 6th, and the Beavs would close it out in the 7th, scoring a couple runs in the rain, the game ender on a wild pitch, to earn the 12-2 victory by mercy rule, sending what was left of a crowd of 2,349 home before they got any wetter.

Notes:

As said above, Fry's no-hitter was just the 5th in school history, and the first since 2011.

With the three homers it brought the 2014 total for the team up to four.

NIU only had 10 baserunners on the day to OSU's 26 baserunners.

First pitch was at 12:37 and the 2nd game wrapped up at ~5:00 pm. The first game was a record 1 hour and 46 minutes.

There have been 25 strikeouts across the Oregon State staff so far this weekend.

Conforto got 4 RBIs total from both games, bringing his total to 24 RBI in the team (and national) lead.