OSU Baseball: Beavers Demolish New Mexico 14-6

In their season opener Friday afternoon against New Mexico the Beavers looked listless. Neither pitching nor hitting looked sharp in the 7-2, and worries about the season started to manifest. Sunday afternoon was a different story, as Oregon State routedNew Mexico 14-6 to move to 2-1 on the season and quell some doubts.

New Mexico was the first on the scoreboard, with a Justin Olson single in the top of the second scoring the first run of the day. The Lobos added another run in the top of the fourth thanks to a Reed Spenrath double, and a two run Jeffrey David homer in the top of the fifth gave them a 4-0 lead.

After being held scoreless for the first four innings, Oregon State finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Brady Kasper reached base on a walk, and made his way over to third thanks to a bean ball and a Tanner Smith grounder. A Kyle Dernedde single then scored Kasper to give the Beavers their first run of the day.

That was only the beginning. In the bottom of the sixth the Beavers really broke through. Gavin Turley started the inning off with a single, and then a deep Ruben Cedillo double down the left field line got Turley home. Garret Forrester followed that with another big double to score Cedillo. New Mexico then loaded the bases, and a Kyle Dernedde sacrifice fly scored Forrester to tie the game.

A Micah McDowell single then scored Brady Kasper, and a Travis Bazzana double capped things off by scoring Mikey Kane. The 5 runs in the sixth gave Oregon State a 6-4 lead, but they wouldn’t stay in front for long, as New Mexico scored two runs in the top of the seventh to tie things up.

Garret Forrester got the lead back in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run, and it seemed for awhile that the game was going to go down to the wire. The bottom of the eighth put that notion to rest. Micah McDowell led things off with a single, and was then scored by a Travis Bazzana triple. Bazzana was put out after trying to stretch that triple into a home run, but Gavin Turley and Ruben Cedillo were both walked to give the Beavers a pair of runners.

A Garret Forrester single scored Turley, and a Mikey Kane single scored Cedillo. Combined with a Mason Guerra walk, the bases were now loaded, setting the table for Tanner Smith. Smith delivered, sending a ball over the left field wall for a grand slam and 14-6 Beavers win.

AJ Hutcheson got the win for the Beavers after coming in as relief in seventh inning. He allowed no hits and no runs over 2.2 innings pitched while striking out four Lobos. Jaren Hunter got the start for the Beavers, and pitched 6.0 innings, allowing 9 hits and 4 earned runs while striking out 5.

A lot of Beaver batters had big days at the plate. Travis Bazzana had three hits, including a double and a triple. Micah McDowell also had three hits, as did Garret Forrester, who’s solo home run in the seventh was a highlight.

The Beavers have one more game in Surprise. They’ll take on UC Santa Barbara tomorrow afternoon, with first pitch set for 12:00 PM PT, before they return to Corvallis to take on Coppin State next weekend