Beavers Take Two over Fresno State

Oregon St. took 5-2 and 12-2 wins over Fresno St. Saturday afternoon to extend their winning streak to 8 games.

A beautiful 70 degrees day welcomed fans to Corvallis Oregon in what felt like spring came early to Beaver fans. Oregon State was coming off a hard fought win last night which saw them prevail 2-1 in ten innings. Today would prove to be a much different day for the Beavers. Opening up the pitching duties for the Beavers was Drew Rasmussen who made his second start of the season.

Fresno State would give the Beavers fans a scare in the opening of the first inning as catcher Logan Ice made a throwing error that allowed the Bulldogs Austin Guibor to score a run to get them on the scoreboard 0-1.

The game started sloppy as the Beavers next scored on a error from the Bulldogs shortstop Jesse Medrano scoring the Beavers Jeff Hendrix to tie the game. Kyle Nobach would fly out but KJ Harrison would go home to give the Beavers the lead in the bottom of the first 2-1.

Both team would not score in the second which saw quick outs for both teams as the Bulldogs and the Beavers played great defense. Oregon State would respond in a big way, as Gabe Clark gave the Beavers breathing room with a homerun that scored himself and KJ Harrison, extending the Beavers lead to 4-2 over the Bulldogs.

The game would largely be a defensive one with great fielding and pitching by the Beavers. The Bulldogs played ok defense but their fielding was only decent and their batters gave up to many easy outs to the Beavers infield. The Beavers would hold the Bulldogs scoreless for six innings, while the Bulldogs held the Beavers scoreless for four.

The Bulldogs would finally score in the eight inning off of a fielders choice which saw Jake Stone score. It was to late as the Beavers would add another run to their lead from a Bulldogs pitcher error as he tried to throw out a man on base, the Beavers Joey Jansen would score to make it 5-2. The Beavers would end the game on a great double play to get two guys on second and first ending the game, it was a testment to how their infield was playing all day.

Game 2 of the double header would be a lot different  game for the Beavers in a good way as their bats finally came alive. Travis Eckert would start for the Beavers on the mound. He would start out red hot holding the Bulldogs to one hit and zero runs over the first three innings.

The Beavers would use Eckert's hot pitching to pad their lead over three innings. They scored one run in the first and two in the second inning. In the third the Beavers batters showed no mercy scoring eight runs off of back to back to back doubles from Jeff Hendrix, Trever Morrison and KJ Harrison. Along with a couple of singles from Michael Howard who started the scoring run and Gabe Clark who finished it 11-0 Beavers.

The Bulldogs would finally answer back in the fourth inning with two runs of their own but it wasn't enough as thats all the offense they could find in the game. They were shut out for the final five innings of the game. The Beavers would add one more run to make it 12-2 and for the second time of the double header would not have to go to the bottom of the 9th to win the game.

The Beavers finished the game with sixteen hits and twelve runs, while the Bulldogs just had four hits and two runs. The Beavers fielding kept them ahead with easy outs, double plays, and quick innings which saw batters retired 1,2,3. If the Beavers can continue playing like this they can find themselves in the mix for a Pac-12 title and continue the winning ways of Beaver baseball. It's still early but they are showing signs of greatness lead by freshman phenom KJ Harrison six homeruns and twenty-seven hits. With many other batters stepping up too. The batters have been coming alive for the Beavers when needed and their fielding will continue to win them games.

The Beavers have now went on a eight game winning streak and are 6-0 at home. The Beavers improve to 12-3, while the Bulldogs fall to 7-8. The Beavers again host Fresno State sunday at 1:05 pm, let's hope we can take out the brooms and send the Bulldogs packing.