Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Sweep Sunday Double Header To Stay Undefeated

Oregon State faced a double header Sunday to close out their first week down in Surprise, Arizona. They looked just as dominant yesterday as they did in their first two games, taking down Gonzaga 9-5 and New Mexico 13-3 to stay undefeated, with a 4-0 record.

First up Sunday was a rematch with Gonzaga. The second game in the series was much closer than the first. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning, but Oregon State responded in the bottom of the fourth, with a Jacob Melton triple scoring two to tie the game. A Matthew Gretler single then gave the Beavers a one run lead.

The fifth inning was when the Beavers took control of the game. Oregon State scored 6 runs in the frame, two from a Travis Bazzana triple, one from a Justin boyd single, one from a Jacob Melton double, and finally two from a TJ Wheeler single. With a 9-2 lead, it seemed Oregon State was set for the win.

Gonzaga did make things a bit interesting down the stretch, adding three runs, one thanks to an Ezra Samperi walk, and two thanks to an Ezra Samperi ground out. Any chance of a Bulldogs comeback was squashed in the ninth, when Mitch Verburg took the mound and quickly shut down the side.

For the second game of the day the Beavers rematched with the New Mexico Lobos. Game 2 wasn’t quite as lopsided as the 21-1 beating the Beavers laid down Friday, but it still wasn’t close. Oregon State once again went down early, with a two run homer in the top of the first giving the Lobos a brief lead, but that didn’t last long.

The Beavers responded with three runs in the bottom of the first. The first came off a Justin Boyd double, the second from a throwing error on a Jacob Melton grounder, and the third from a Greg Fuchs single. Oregon State held on to that 3-2 lead until the bottom of the sixth, when they added one more with a Matthew Gretler double.

The Lobos got a run back in the top of the seventh, with an Adam Schneider single, but after that the game was all Beavers. In the bottom of the seventh Travis Bazzana reached home on a Jacob Melton single, and then a bases loaded Greg Fuchs double scored three more. A Gretler single added one more run in the seventh, giving the Beavers a 9-3 lead.

That would of been good enough for a win, but the Beavers had one more thing to do before they ended their first weekend of play. In the bottom of the eighth inning, they loaded the bases, and TJ Wheeler came to the plate to deliver a massive grand slam. What a way to seal a victory.

The Beavers will be back in Surprise next weekend for a series against Xavier. The three game series will run from Thursday to Saturday, February 24th-26th.