Recap: Oregon State Baseball Beats Cal Poly 16-7

The Beaver bats have officially come alive.

The Oregon State baseball team started the year 3-0 on Sunday with a victory over the Cal Poly Mustangs. The 16 runs were the most they’ve scored in the young season. OSU outhit the Mustangs 20-13 and committed just one error to Cal Poly’s three.

The scoring got started in the bottom of the second with a Trevor Larnach solo homer. That’s his third in three games. In that same frame, Michael Gretler drove in Adley Rutschman on an RBI ground out to give OSU a 2-0 lead.

Cal Poly’s preseason All-American outfielder Alex McKenna cut the lead in the top of the third with an RBI ground out.

Then in the bottom of the third, the Beavs poured on the runs. Rutschman got an RBI single that gave Steven Kwan enough time to score from third. OSU got two more runs when Preston Jones gave a hard shot to right field that allowed Rutschman and Larnach to score. OSU got one more in that frame when Zak Tayor brought in Gretler on a single (that turned into a double on an overthrow by Cal Poly) to make it 6-1 Beavs.

The Mustangs got one back immediately in the top of the fourth on a solo home run by right fielder Bradlee Beesley. In the bottom of the fourth, Larnach got a two RBI double off of Cal Poly reliever Thomas Triantos.

Mustangs’ shortstop Kyle Marinconz got Cal Poly’s second homer of the day in the top of the fifth.

In the sixth, Larnach got his third RBI of the day when he hit a single that scored Cadyn Grenier. Rutschman drove Larnach in in the next at bat and Zak Taylor brought Rutschman in to make it 11-3 for OSU.

The Cal Poly offense wouldn’t go quietly as Nick Meyer added an RBI single in the seventh. That inning went significantly better for Oregon State as they scored five runs in the seventh. That included an RBI apiece from Grenier, Madrigal, and Zalesky as well as two from Andy Armstrong.

Cal Poly attempted a comeback in the top of the ninth and got three runs in before the final out, bringing the score to 16-7.

The biggest note of today’s game was the stellar performance at the plate by Larnach.

Larnach finished the day 4-4 with three runs and four RBIs. That brings him to seven RBIs on the season.

Bryce Fehmel finished the day with three strikeouts while allowing seven hits and four earned runs in 6.2 innings of work. He also hit a batter. It’s clear there was a little rust on Fehmel, but the offense did enough work to back him up. Fehmel got the win and starts the year 1-0.

Freshman reliever Kevin Abel made his collegiate debut in 1.1 innings with four hits allowed and a strikeout. Another freshman in Nathan Burns made his debut in relief in the ninth, but pitched less than a full inning and allowed two hits and three runs.

Dylan Pearce finished the game on the mound, getting the last out with a K.

The Beavs are back tomorrow for another game against New Mexico at 1 PM. Come on back for the gamethread around that time.