Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Drop Game 1 Against Santa Clara 10-9

Oregon State and Santa Clara put on a high scoring show in Corvallis Tuesday night, but the Beavers fell short, dropping the game 10-9 despite some ninth inning heroics. The Beavers fall to 12-5 overall.

The first inning started grim for the Beavs. Starter Will Frisch gave up four runs to start the game, seeing the entire Bronco lineup. The Beavers responded by going three up three down in the bottom of the inning, but in the second they got things going. The Beavers loaded the bases the normal way, with a walk and two batters hit by a pitch.

A Kyler McMahan double scored two runners, and was followed by a Matthew Gretler double that scored two more. That tied the game up 4-4 just 2 innings into the game. In the bottom of the third, an Andy Armstrong single and a fielding error gave the Beavers another run, and their first lead of the game.

Santa Clara got the lead back in the top of the fourth, when Jake Macnichols hit a three run homer over the left field wall. The Beavers managed to tie things up in the bottom of the fourth, albeit in another strange way. Kyler McMahan, Preston Jones and Micah McDowell walked to fill the bases, and then a throwing error on a Garret Forrester ground ball scored two runs. After four, the game was once again tied, 7-7.

Santa Clara added another run in the top of the fifth to get the lead back again, and then two more in the top of the seventh to go up 10-7. The Beavers got one run back in the bottom of the seventh, an Andy Armstrong single scored Ryan Ober, but headed into the bottom of the ninth down two.

Garret Forrester started the inning with a solo home run to get the Beavers within one. Walks from Gavin Logan and Ryan Ober got the tying run in scoring position, but then a pop up from Andy Armstrong and strikeouts from Jake Dukart and Kyler McMahan ended the inning, and the game, in Santa Clara’s favor.

The Beavers used a platoon on the mound today. Will Frisch got the start, but only pitched in the first inning, when he allowed 5 hits and 3 earned runs. Jaren Hunter, the fourth pitcher the Beavers used yesterday, was credited with the loss after coming in in the fifth inning. He pitched for 1.1 innings and allowed 2 hits and 1 earned run, and is now 0-1 on the season.

Game 2 between Oregon State and Santa Clara is set for later today, with first pitch scheduled for 5:35 PM PT, and the game will be streamed on Pac-12.com.