Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Fall To Cougars 9-8 For First Conference Loss

Oregon State couldn’t pull off the sweep up in Pullman Sunday afternoon when a Washington State comeback gave the Cougars a 9-8 upset win over the Beavers. The loss is OSU’s second of the season, dropping them to 11-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

Wade Meckler started the top of the first by being walked, and thanks to a Justin Boyd walk and an error from by Wazzu’s shortstop, the Beavers managed to load the bases early. Garret Forrester then drew a walk to give OSU their first run of the day, and a Gavin Logan ground out scored one more, giving the Beavers a 2-0 lead.

The Cougars answered in the bottom of the first, with a Justin Van De Brake single scoring one. The Beavers responded by opening up a big lead in the top of the second. A Travis Bazzana double scored Kyle Dernedde, and then a Jacob Melton double scored Bazzana and Justin Boyd. A sac fly from Kyler Stancato in the bottom of the inning scored a run from the Cougars, for a 5-2 score after two.

The Cougars began climbing back into the game in the fourth inning. After a Jacob Melton single scored one for the Beavs in the top of the inning, a Stancato single in the bottom scored two runs for WSU, cutting the OSU lead to 2.

The Beavers got a run back in the top of the sixth with a Garret Forrester sac fly, but things fell apart in the bottom of the sixth. Kyler Stancato continued to be a hero for the Cougars. A pair of Wazzu singles set the table for Stancato, who hit a deep double down the left field line, scoring both runners. A few batters later a Collin Montez single scored Stancato and tied the game 7-7.

Oregon State grabbed the lead back in the top of the seventh, when a Travis Bazzana ground out scored Kyle Dernedde. They held onto that lead until the bottom of the ninth, when the Beavers’ relief pitching started to struggle. After striking out the first Cougar batter, OSU closer Mitch Verburg hit the next two Cougars he faced, and then a sacrifice fly advanced the runner on the second.

That was the opening Washington State needed, as a pair of singels from Montez and Bryce Matthews scored the tying and go ahead runs. The Cougars pulled off the 9-8 upset and handed OSU their second loss of the season.

Next week Oregon State has a midweek, two game series scheduled with Grand Canyon University. Games will be on Tuesday, March 15th and Wednesday, March 16th. Following that, they’ll host their first conference series of the year at Goss Stadium. The Arizona State Sun Devils will be visiting for a Friday to Sunday series.