Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Season Ends With 8-5 Loss To Dallas Baptist

Oregon State’s season is over. After building a big lead in the final game of the Fort Worth Regional against Dallas Baptist, the Beavers’ relief pitching fell apart in the late game to give DBU the win, 8-5. DBU will move on to play the winner of the Columbia Regional, either Old Dominion or Virginia, and the Beavers are coming home.

This time it was the Beavers’ turn to strike first. Ryan Ober opened the top of the second with a single, and advanced to second on a grounder from Andy Armstrong. A Matthew Gretler single then scored the Beavers first run of the day.

In the top of the third, they got another. A Justin Boyd triple opened the frame, and a Troy Claunch fly ball to right field was enough to get him home. A pair of singles from Garret Forrester and Greg Fuchs got the Beavers more runners, and then a wild pitch and a throwing error got Forrester from second all the way to home plate, giving the Beavers a 3-0 lead.

Dallas Baptist went to their bullpen at that point, but reliever Chandler Arnold walked three straight batters to give OSU another run. DBU’s changed pitchers once again, but a wild pitch from Zane Russell scored a fifth run for the Beavers before the Patriots finally managed to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third it was Oregon State pitching’s turn to struggle. Jack Washburn walked the first batter he faced, and then hit the second with a pitch, to put two on with no outs. Washburn was pulled for Chase Watkins, as one of DBU’s best hitters, Jackson Glenn, came to the plate. Watkins forced the double play and then a ground out ended the inning with the Beavers still up 5-0.

After a couple innings where they threatened to score, Dallas Baptist finally broke the shutout in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs on the board, Christian Boulware hit a single to set up a 2 run homer from Ryan Wrobleski to cut the OSU lead to 5-2.

The situation got worse for Oregon State in the seventh. After starting the inning with a striekout, Nathan Burns walked the next two batters he faced. He struck out one more batter, but then walked a third. With the bases loaded and two outs, Mitch Canham pulled Burns for Joey Mundt, and Mundt then gave up a grand slam to Andrew Benefield to give Dallas Baptist the lead, 6-5. After Mundt hit the next two batters, Cooper Hjerpe came in to end the inning.

The Beavers went three up three down in the top of the eighth and were down to their last three outs, but first DBU would get a turn at the plate. After Andres Sosa hit a single, River Town hit another home run to score two more runs for the Patriots.

The top of the ninth started with a Troy Claunch foul out. Garret Forrester walked to give the Beavs a runner, but Kyle Froemke then struck out to put the Beavers on their last out. A single by Ryan Ober put runners on the corner, and brought Andy Armstrong to the plate. Armstrong hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game, and the Beaver’s season.

Its a hard way to end a season, but the Beavers have a lot to build on next season. Kyle Dernedde really made a name for himself this postseason, and there’s a great young crop of players here.