Beavers Win the 1st of the DH 7-2

Oregon State went quietly in the first but Utah was ready to avenge their loss last night. The Utes came out and were able to get a couple singles in the bottom of the first. It was an early challenge for the normal Sunday starter Luke Heimlich. He was able to get the next batter to ground out to Trever Morrison though and the danger was averted.

The next few innings were quiet, with just a base hit stranded here and there. The next real threat came in the bottom of the 5th when the Utes got their lead man on base with a single. They looked to play small ball and bunted over the man and Heimlich walked the next one to put runners at 1st and 2nd with one out. Heimlich again showed his resolve though when he got a ground out for the second out, and induced another one to get out of that jam.

That spurred on the slightest bit of momentum in the next inning for the Beavers, Ice was the first to reach in the inning when he was walked. After a Harrison flyout Jack Anderson was able to get on board with a single. Freshman Trevor Larnach came up to bat with one of the few early scoring opportunities for OSU and the Larch Ness Monster came through with a ball that dipped just in front of the left fielder to score one run and the Beavs took a 1-0 lead.

Defense and pitching carried OSU for a couple more innings, handling the Utes pretty easily. Casey's boys were back on the board in the 8th which was again started by Ice. He was able to get a base hit which Harrison followed with a double. That chased Utah starter Dalton Carroll who had pitched pretty well against the Beavers. Riley Otteson came on the mound but and was unable to get out Jack Anderson who hit a double over the 1st baseman's head to score two more and push the lead out to 3-0.

That would have been enough to win the game, but OSU blew it open. The first step was small ball, with Morrison reaching to lead off the inning and moving over via a bunt and a wild pitch. A Donahue walk was followed by a Madrigal safety squeeze to make it 4-0. From there the Utah pitchers lost control throwing wild pitches and walking the next three batters. Donahue scored one of those wild pitches and the walks loaded the bases for pinch hitter Andy Atwood who came through to bring in two more and make it 7-0.

There was a little drama as the Utes got a homer off of Heimlich to chase him for Fehmel. He would allow a run but the Beavers were just fine to take the series. The second game of the doubleheader is starting now as I finish this as OSU looks for the sweep.