Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Win Season Opener 11-4

Whoever implied that Oregon State’s offense would be diminished this season is an idiot and should be fired from their online sports blogging position. The Beavers’ bats exploded in the first inning against New Mexico, giving the Beavers a 9-0 lead. New Mexico couldn’t recover from that, as the Beavers won their 11th consecutive season opener 11-4.

That first inning deserves a closer look. Micah McDowell led things off with a walk, and then a throwing error put McDowell on third and Kyler McMahan on second. That set a nice table for Alex McGarry, perhaps the Beavers best returning hitter. McGarry did not disappoint, blasting a three run homer for the first points of the game.

A Ryan Ober single and a Joe Casey walk got a pair of runners on the bases, and then a big double to left center from Troy Claunch got them both home. Cesar Valero followed up with a double of his own, and then Andy Armstrong belted the Beavers’ third double in a row to add two more runs to the scoreboard.

This was all before the Lobos got their first out of the game. They finally got one, with Richie Mascarenas fouling out, but that was followed by a single from Micah McDowell (and a fielding error from New Mexico) to give the Beavers another run. Kyler McMahan then capped things off with a final single to score one more run. New Mexico finally got a couple more outs to end the inning, but by that point they’d already seen 13 batters. That’s how you score 9 runs in the first inning.

Oregon State added two more runs during the game; a Troy Claunch solo homer in the second and a Claunch single in the sixth that scored Kyler McMahan. Claunch was the star of the show today, with RBI and 3 H for his 4 at bats, with a double a home run.

Micah McDowell, Kyler McMahan and Ryan Ober each had 2 hits, with McDowell and McMahan getting an RBI each. Alex McGarry only had the 1 hit, but it was good for 3 RBI. Andy Armstrong and Cesar Valero also had 1 hit each, with Armstrong getting 2 RBI for his double.

Starting pitcher Christian Chamberlain had an excellent outing. He pitched for 6.0 innings, giving up one hit and no earned runs. He struck out 5, while walking 2. He gets the win, obviously. Nathan Burns, Reid Sebby and Andrew Walling each pitched 1.0 inning in relief. Burns allowed 1 hit and 1 earned run, with 1 strikeout, Sebby allowed no hits and no earned runs with 1 strikeout, and Walling closed the game out, finishing with 2 hits allowed and 2 earned runs, with 2 strikeouts and 3 walks. It’s a pretty solid start to the Beavers pitching staff this season.

The Beavers have three more games in Surprise. Tomorrow they’ll have their first game out of two against Gonzaga. First pitch is set for 1:00 PM PT.