Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Pull Off Big 15-8 Win Over Cal

The Beavers broke out of their recent funk, with a chaotic 15-8 win over the California Golden Bears. In a back and forth battle, the Beaver bats won out as they got hot toward the end of the game. Oregon State improves to 22-10, and 8-5 in conference play.

Oregon State got their scoring started in the bottom of the second. Andy Armstrong reached base with a single and stole second, and then Preston Jones did the same. With two runners in scoring position, Ryan Ober hit a single to deep center to put the Beavers up 2-0.

Cal got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning, when a pair of walks and a wild pitch from Kevin Abel got the Bears in the danger zone. Cal’s John Lagattuta scored one run with a single, before Abel clamped down and closed out the inning. The Beavers then answered that run with a solo homer from Jacob Melton in the bottom of the fourth. That left OSU up 3-1 after four.

The Bears got closer in the top of the fifth, when a Dylan Beavers single scored 2. The Beavers answered once again with a Wade Meckler double that scored Garret Forrester, to stay ahead 4-3, but they would run into a buzzsaw in the top of the sixth.

Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for the Bears, with one out. Mitch Verburg then beaned a Cal batter to give them a run, and a fielder’s choice added one more for the Bears. Nathan Manning then blasted a three run homer over the right field wall to put Cal up 8-4.

The Beavers didn’t quit though. In the bottom of the seventh, Garret Forrester, Troy Claunch and Wade Meckler led off with back to back to back singles to load up the bases with no outs. After a foul out, a wild pitch scored Forrester and advanced the runners. Greg Fuchs then walked to get the bases loaded up again, and a Joe Casey ground out scored two more runs. That left two runners on with two outs, the perfect situation for a Jacob Melton triple to tie the game up.

After a great seventh, the Beavers had an even better eighth. Jake Dukart singled to start things off, and Garret Forrester walked to move him into scoring position. Troy Claunch then hit a single to left field to score Dukart and give the Beavers the lead back. A Wade Meckler grounder was the Beavers first out, but advanced both runners. Andy Armstrong walked to load the bases, and Greg Fuchs singled to add another run.

OSU wasn’t done. an infield fly from Joe Casey gave Cal their second out, but a Jacob Melton single scored another run. With the bases loaded, Ryan Ober blasted a home run to right center for a grand slam. 15-8 Beavers.

That would be the final after a quick three strikeouts from Jake Mulholland in the top of the ninth. Bryant Salgado, who came in as a reliever in the eighth, got the win. He’s 3-0 on the year. As the starter, Kevin Abel pitched for 4.0 innings, striking out 5 against 4 walks and 2 hits. He allowed 3 earned runs.

Game 2 between the Bears and the Beavs is set for 1:35 PM PT tomorrow, and will be livestreamed by Oregon State.