Oregon State Rolls To 13-1 Victory Over LSU In Omaha

A lot of people looked at how well both Oregon State and LSU have played as of late and assumed the winner of this game would more or less be decided by a coin flip. The Beavers opted to make their own luck and cruised to an easy win in their second game of the 2017 College World Series. The 13 runs that the Beavers racked up on eleven hits were the most in a CWS game in program history.

In the top of the first, Steven Kwan got the first hit of the game with a well placed bunt. Trevor Larnach brought him in two batters later to put the Beavs up 1-0.

In the fifth, Oregon State was able to capitalize on a bad inning overall by the Tigers. Trevor Larnach added two more RBIs with two outs with a blooper single to shallow right center field. Then in the sixth the bats got going again as Nick Madrigal added a run off a sacrifice grounder with the bases loaded. Trevor Larnach then walked to load the bags again, setting up a grand slam by KJ Harrison. It was the first grand slam in the College World Series since 2010.

The Beavs got another one on the seventh with a sac fly to center by Cadyn Grenier that scored Tyler Malone. Nick Madrigal subsequently hooked a double into left that brought in two more.

LSU finally got on the board with a homer in the bottom of the seventh from center fielder Zach Watson. Not to be outdone, Cadyn Grenier added a two run single in the following frame.

LSU dealt with some pitching issues early and often. Starter Eric Walker left in the third due to a fatigued muscle in his forearm. The Tigers went through seven pitchers who combined for eleven hits, eleven earned runs, twelve walks, and eight strikeouts. The twelve walks were the most that Oregon State had racked up in all of 2017. The Tigers also had two costly errors in this game while the Beavers only had one.

On the other side, Bryce Fehmel had a quality start going eight innings and giving up just two hits and three walks (plus the one homer) with three strikeouts. Sam Tweedt pitched the last inning to close it out. He gave up two hits facing four batters.

Oregon State now has some off time until Friday at noon PT. Their opponent will be the winner of Wednesday’s rematch between Florida State and LSU at 4 PM PT. A win on Friday for the Beavs will put them in the College World Series finals against whoever wins bracket two.