Recap: Oregon State Baseball Drop First Pac-12 Series Since May 2016

In a series that had no shortage of excitement, Oregon State ultimately was unable to beat the Utah Utes in game three. With that result, Utah took the series 2-1 marking the first time in nearly two calendar years that OSU lost a Pac-12 series.

Utah outhit the Beavers 18-11 and Oregon State committed three costly errors on the day.

Adley Rutschman looked like his usual self early in T1 with an RBI double.

Utah’s Erick Migueles homered in the bottom of the second to tie it up. In the following frame, Andy Armstrong tripled to bring in Gretler putting OSU back on top.

Utah then got in their offensive groove with two runs apiece in the third and fourth inning. Oregon State and the Utes scored two runs each in the sixth. A Cadyn Grenier solo homer in the top of the seventh cut into the lead, but in the next frame the Ute offense added two more. They did the same thing in the eigth inning.

Oregon State tried to mount a comeback in the ninth with three quick runs, but were halted by Utah’s defense when the score reached 11-8.

Bryce Fehmel’s start on the mound lasted 3.1 innings. He allowed nine hits with five runs (four earned), a walk, and two strikeouts. Brandon Eisert then lasted 2.1 innings in relief with two runs, five hits, a walk and a strikeout. Christian Chamberlain and Sam Tweedt also appeared very briefly in relief were they combined to face three batters, walk two of them, and allow a run. Jake Mulholland pitched the final two innings allowing four more hits and three more runs with three strikeouts.

The victory brings Utah’s record to 6-20 in 2018 while Oregon State falls to 21-4.

Ultimately, I think we learned two things from this series. First, Utah is a much, much better team than their record indicates. They’ve had so many close games this year and it just all came together this weekend against one of the most stacked teams in the country. Second, Oregon State’s pitching needs a little bit of work right now. Heimlich is still as sharp as ever, but the younger guys trying to work their way into the rotation (and even some of the vets) are a bit off right now.

The Beavs don’t have too much time to lament the loss though. They’ll spend Sunday collecting themselves and the host the Nevada Wolfpack on Monday and Tuesday in Corvallis.