Beaver Baseball Rides Hot Start to 5-3 Victory

Oregon State was quick out of the gates, which was reassuring after a poor offensive showing in the last two games against New Mexico. The hitting started with Joey Jansen who hit for a single and a hit and run with freshman KJ Harrison helped move him over to third. A fielder's choice by Billy King would bring in the run and the Beavers had drawn first blood.

That was immediately answered by the Cowboys though, with a quick double by center fielder Corey Hassel and a single off the bat of Tim Arakawa to bring him home. Andrew Moore did not let anymore damage occur though getting out of the inning with only the run scored.

The Beaver offense only continued from there with Scotland Church hitting for a double and Michael Gretler bringing him home. Gretler only played 5 innings, but was 2 for 3 and had a very solid day at the plate. Oregon State just kept on tacking on runs in the early going, with two more in the 3rd with Logan Ice and Gretler batting in one apiece. In the 5th, the final Beaver run was scored with a walk for Caleb Hamilton and a double for Logan Ice to bring him home. That also knocked out Oklahoma State starter Tyler Nurdin.

Ice had a terrific day at the plate with a 3/5 day with a double and 2 RBI. He was one of three Beavers with multiple hits, including the aforementioned Gretler and the fantastic freshman KJ Harrison who went 3/5 with one run scored.

Andrew Moore had a great day as well, starting off a little shaky when he gave up a run in the opening frame, but he settled down and wasn't in real danger until the 7th when he gave up consecutive doubles and run with a sac fly. After he walked the next batter coach Yeskie pulled him in favor of Drew Rasmussen. The final line for Moore was 6 1/3 innings pitched with 7 hits and 3 earned runs on 102 pitches.

Rasmussen came in and gave up two singles, bringing the score back to 5-3 Oregon State. He struck out the next batter swinging though and then battled with Arakawa. After a grueling at bat he struck him out too. It was a good showing for the freshman pitcher as he brought heat, reportedly throwing 94-97. The Beavs did threaten in the top of the 8th for their last real scoring chance when they had the bases loaded with 2 outs. That fizzled out when Jansen hit into a fielder's choice.

That was of little importance though as Rasmussen settled into a groove and sat down the Cowboy batters in order to move to the 9th, and from their Pat Casey had Mitch Hickey in for the save chance. It was a great choice as Hickey came in throwing mid low 90s with a top of 95. He struck out the side for his first save of the year, and the Beavers broke their two game losing streak to improve to 3-2, and drop 19th ranked Oklahoma St. to 2-2.

Oregon St. continues in the Pac-12/Big 12 Tournament tomorrow, with a matchup against Kansas State at 12:00 pm.

Go Beavs!