OSU Roasts the Ducks 10-2

This game was much more meaningful than most of the midweek Civil War matchups, but with Oregon State looking to solidfy their spot in the NCAA tournament and the Ducks trying to get in the picture this game had some serious repercussions for the loser.

Both teams started out with some solid threats. Duck leadoff man Jakob Goldfarb started the game with a single and the Ducks immediately went into small ball mode, advancing the runner on a sac bunt, but OSU starter Sam Tweedt got the next two Duck batters out, stranding the runner on 2nd.

The Beavers had a similar start with a Christian Donahue single, although he got out on a fielder's choice and Elliott Cary slipped into first. He advanced to second on a passed ball but Hendrix bunted to move him over to third which seemed like a poor decision with the runner already in scoring position and KJ Harrison could not bring him home.

UO had another brief threat in the 2nd inning when they got 2 on with two outs and Mark Karaviotis battled to a full count. Tweedt had just enough to force a flyout to center field though and again the Beavers got out of a jam.

Oregon State was shut out in the 2nd inning but they took control of the game in the bottom of the third starting with a Caleb Hamilton single with one out. Donahue followed that up with another base hit, which brought freshman Elliott Cary to the plate. He smacked a hit through the right side and Hamilton turned for home with success and the runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd on a poor throw and catch at the plate. The rally continued with a Hendrix walk to the load the bases. Harrison walked up to the plate and smashed the first pitch off the wall to score two more runs, whioh was followed by a Billy King double to plate two more. That set the Beavers up at 5-0 and they never relinquished control.

The bottom of the 4th brought in two more runs when a Hendrix single brought home Joe Gillette and Hamilton to bring the score to 7-0. While the Beaver offense was doing work Tweedt continued to deal as well hurling 4 shut out innings before some fielding errors allowed lead off runners in the 5th and 6th innings which the Ducks did turn into two runs. His solid outing ended with 2 outs in the 5th inning which was good his seventh win of the season. Heimlich came in and allowed a hit to score a run (which belonged to Tweedt), but from there he did not allow another run.

OSU tacked on a couple more runs off a Harrison fielder's choice in the 6th and a King double in the 8th. All that offense was just icing on the cake as Heimlich shut down the Ducks for the rest of the game, earning his third save of the season.

The entire Beaver offense played well but a few numbers stand out above others. Cary had two hits and a walk with 3 runs scored, Hendrix had three walks and was 1 for 1, KJ had 3 RBIs, and King had maybe the best day with two doubles, a walk, and 3 RBIs.

Sam Tweedt had 2 runs (neither of which were earned), he lasted 5 2/3 innings but threw a lot of pitches in that span which was why he was pulled at that time despite only giving up 3 hits and 3 walks. His record is now 7-1 with a 2.86 ERA and a .202 batting average allowed. He has been an excellent midweek starter.

The Beavers record now moves to 30-14 overall on the season. It's the 7th year in a row that Oregon St. has reached the 30 win level.

Oregon dropped to 27-21. The Ducks missed an important opportunity for their post-season prospects to get a win against a top 25 team that's also in the RPI top 30.

Oregon State stays at home for their next series against Utah, with first pitch at 5:35 pm on Friday evening.

Go Beavs!