Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Beat UC Irvine 7-5 in Extra Innings

Oregon State Baseball trailed UC Irvine for most of Friday night’s game, but a Jacob Melton home run in the bottom of the ninth set up an extra innings win for the Beavers. OSU’s record improves to 26-10.

After a bases loaded single in the bottom of the third gave the Anteaters a 1-0 lead, Oregon State tied things in the top of the fourth with a Joe Casey fly ball that scored Ryan Ober. UC Irvine broke that tie quickly; with a 2 run bottom of the fourth giving them a 3-1 lead.

That lead moved to 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth, before the Beavers got a run back in the top of the seventh when a Wade Meckler double scored Andy Armstrong. A Ryan Ober solo home run in the top of the eighth got the Beavers to within 1, setting up a huge ninth inning.

It started with an Andy Armstrong walk. Armstrong was then bunted over to second by Wade Meckler. Micah McDowell then struck out, and the Beavers were down to their last out. Jacob Melton then came through in a big way, with a huge home run to right center scoring 2 runs, giving OSU their first lead of the night.

It didn’t last long. In the bottom of the ninth, 2 singles and a wild pitch got the Anteaters a tying run, and UC Irvine two runners in scoring position before some clutch fielding from Andy Armstrong sent the game to extra innings, tied 5-5.

The Beavers got nothing through in the 10th, while the Anteaters quickly got a runner on third when they got their turn at the plate. The Beavers were in danger once again, but Jake Mulholland worked a quick strikeout and line out to keep the game alive.

Joe Casey singled to start the 11th, and then an Andy Armstrong single advanced Casey to second. A Wade Meckler bunt moved up the runners, and brought Matthew Gretler to the plate as a pinch hitter. Gretler belted a single into left, scoring both Armstrong and Casey, and giving the Beavs a 7-5 lead. A pair of ground outs and a strikeout ended the game in an OSU win.

Jake Mulholland picked up his second win of the season, giving him a 2-1 record. Mulholland handled the ninth and tenth innings, during which he struck out 2 and walked one, while giving up 4 hits and 1 run. Kevin Abel got the start, and pitched for 3.0 innings, striking out six and walking four, while allowing 1 hit and 1 earned run.

Game two between the Beavers and Anteaters is set for tomorrow, with a first pitch scheduled for 1:00 PM PT. The game will be aired and streamed on ESPN3.