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Oregon State improved to 29-2 on the year when they bounced back from their second loss of the season with a 15 hit performance against UW.
As they tend to do, Oregon State got on the board early with an RBI single in the first inning from Trevor Larnach that drove in Steven Kwan. Cadyn Grenier then continued his impressive hit streak (now at ten games) and doubled off of UW’s Jordan Jones immediately at the start of the fourth. Jack Anderson subsequently brought him in with an RBI single. Michael Gretler then kept it rolling by bringing in Anderson to make it 3-0.
In the fifth, UW cut into the lead with a sac fly from AJ Graffanino that scored Levi Jordan. Then in the seventh, OSU grabbed an insurance run when Grenier brought in Harrison with a sac fly of his own. In the eighth, back to back doubles from Gretler and Rutschman added another run.
UW got one back in the bottom of the eighth off an RBI from Willie MacIver to make it 5-2. They then rallied with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to bring the tying run up to bat, but to no avail.
Brandon Eisert and Mitch Hickey made relief appearances for the Beavers after starter Bryce Fehmel went six innings and change. Jake Mulholland closed it out in the ninth for his fourth save of the year. Fehmel got the win to bring his record to 4-1.
Similar to Thursday, UW subbed out starter Leo Nierenberg for LHP Brendan Ecklebarger in the second inning. However, it didn’t work as well as bringing in Noah Bremer did. Ecklebarger was subbed out for RHP Jordan Jones in the 4th inning. Some of UW’s pitching changes in these first two games were a little weird to me. For example, Thursday’s starter Chris Micheles came in on Friday night to make a relief appearance in the eighth (I mean, I guess he was well rested since he only went one inning on Thursday). UW used five pitchers total to combine for a 178 pitch count and six strikeouts.
Also of note in this one, Grenier and Nick Madrigal flipped positions with Grenier going to short and Madrigal going to second base. Look for that swap to happen a few more times throughout the year. Honestly, both guys play either position well.
The series finale is set for tomorrow at 2 PM PT as the Beavs look to avoid dropping their first series of the year and their first Pac-12 series since May of last season.