OSU Baseball: Beavers Blast UCSB 11-0 To Close Out Opening Weekend

In their final game this season in Surprise, Arizona, the Oregon State Beavers treated their fans to a Presidents Day spectacular, where they demolished the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 11-0. The Beavers improve to 3-1 after a solid opening weekend, and will now return to Corvallis.

Oregon State grabbed an early lead in the bottom of the first, when a Ruben Cedillo single scored Travis Bazzana. Brady Kasper followed that up with another single, which combined with an error allowed Cedillo to score, handing the Beavers a 2-0 lead.

The bottom of the third started with five straight Oregon State singles, from Micah McDowell, Travis Bazzana, Gavin Turley, Ruben Cedillo and Garret Forrester. Turley’s and Forrester’s each scored a run. A sixth single, from Brady Kasper scored Cedillo, Turley and Forrester, who reached home on a throwing error.

Santa Barbara finally pulled their pitcher after that, but it wasn’t enough to stop a seventh straight single, this one from Mikey Kane, which scored Kasper. After that, the Gauchos finally managed to find some outs, but now the Beavers were up 8-0.

Kyle Dernedde tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run. Two more runs came in the bottom of the eighth, when a Mason Guerra double scored Gavin Turley and Travis Bazzana. That increased the Beavers lead to 11, which forced the 10 run mercy rule in effect, giving the Beavers the win.

After a rough stretch, OSU pitching shined today. AJ Lattery got the start, pitching 4.0 innings during which he allowed 3 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 3. Ian Lawson came in on relief in the fifth, and picked up the win while pitching for 3.0 innings. Lawson allowed no hits or walks, and struck out 6 Gauchos. Nelson Keljo closed things out, pitching for 1.0 and allowing no hits and one walk.

Oregon State will now be headed back to Corvallis for their first home series of the season. They’ll be facing Coppin State in a three game series. Game 1 gets started at 5:35 PM on Friday, February 24th.