Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Fall To Cougars 5-2 In Series Opener

For the second weekend in a row, the Beavers struggled to score runs in a series opener. This time it led to a 5-2 loss to the Washington State Cougars, dropping the Beavers to 11-4 overall this season.

The Cougars grabbed their first run in the second, with a Jake Meyer grounder scoring Jack Smith. In the bottom of the fifth, things got out of control for Oregon State. The Cougars added another run with a Collin Montez single. That was immediately followed by a two run homer from Justin Van De Brake, and the Cougars were up 4-0.

Kevin Abel’s day was done shortly after that. Abel struggled in his fourth start. He allowed 7 hits and 4 earned runs over 4.2 innings pitched. He struck out six, but walked four and hit one batter.

Joey Mundt came on to relieve Abel, and allowed one run in the top of the sixth. The Beavers finally found some scoring in the bottom of the sixth, when a long single from Garrett Forrester scored Brady Kasper.

Oregon State would head into the bottom of the ninth down 5-1. Jake Dukart started the inning with a double to give the Beavers a shot. A Troy Claunch ground ball advanced Dukart to third, and then a Joe Casey fly ball got Jake home. The Beavers had gotten another run, but it had taken two outs to do so. Ryan Ober then struck out, and the game was done.

The Beavers will try to tie up the series in Game 2 this afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:35 PM PT, and the game will be streamed by Oregon State.