Oregon State Baseball: Beaver Bats Explode for 10-7 Win Over Washington

After a grueling 1-0 Beaver win yesterday, both Oregon State and Washington decided to liven things up a bit today, with both teams pouring on runs. The Beavers prevailed, winning 10-7 and clinching another Pac-12 series win.

Beau Philip led the Beavers off in the first with a double. Shortly thereafter, the Huskies elected to walk Adley Rutschman. That was a bad decision. Tyler Malone stepped up to the plate and launched a big double to center field to score Philip. The next batter, Zach Gretler, then hit a single to score Rutschman. Ryan Ober capped off the inning with a 3 run homer over the center field wall to give the Beavers a 5-0 lead.

It looked like the Beavers might follow the first with a big second inning, as they loaded the bases with only one out. Washington’s pitcher, Jordan Jones, finally settled down however, and got the last two outs.

After that, the Huskies began working their way back into the game. Pitcher Bryce Fehmel seemed to lose some control in the bottom of the third, hitting the first batter, giving up a single, and then walking a third. The next batter hit the ball right toward Fehmel, and Bryce committed an error that allowed a runner to score without getting an out.

The Huskies scored one more off a sac fly before the Beavers ended the inning. Now down just 5-2, Washington wasn’t done, they added one more in the bottom of the fourth, In the top of the 5th, the Beavers tried to get the game back under control, with Beau Philip scoring Jake Harvey with a single to go up 6-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, after allowing a single and a walk before getting an out, Oregon State decided to pull Bryce Fehmel for Mitch Verburg. Verburg had a bad first at bat, with Washington’s Connor Blair launching a three run homer over the left field wall. Verber struck out the next two batters, but the game was now tied 6-6.

In the top of the 7th, Ryan Ober got the Beavers back to work with a lead off double. George Mendazona singled to advance him, and then a Jake Harvey bunt scored Ober to give the Beavers the lead back. With two on and no outs, the Beavers were in a good position to add a few more runs, but Washington managed a couple of quick outs. After a Beau Philip intentional walk, the bases were loaded when Adley Rutschman came to the plate.

The Huskies had already intentionally walked Rutschman a couple times today, but decided they couldn’t afford it with the bases loaded. That was a mistake, as Rutschman launched a double to left field, scoring three runs and putting the Beavers up 10-6.

Washington managed one more run in the bottom of the ninth, but reliever Christian Chamberlain managed to close the game out for a 10-7 win, clinching the series for the Beavers.

Adley Rutschman proved just how dangerous he can be today. Washington mostly tried to avoid him, walking him three times, but in one of his two at bats his massive three run double sealed the win.

Ryan Ober also had a big day, also adding 3 RBI from his three hits, including a double and a home run.

Bryce Fehmel went 4.1 innings, allowing 5 Hits and 4 Runs, and committing one error on the mound. He made up for that error with an impressive grab to get out of third. He also struck out three Huskies.

Mitch Verburg got the Win after coming on for Fehmel, and pitching 1.2 innings. He was credited with 2 hits and 1 run, but did give up the three run homer that allowed Washington to tie the game. He also grabbed three strikeouts.

The Beavers will close out the series tomorrow at 2:00 PM PT. Check back with Building the Dam for more baseball coverage.