OSU Baseball: Beavers Take Series With 12-2 Blowout of Ducks

After a shaky start Friday, the Beavers took control of their series in Eugene against Oregon, and after a 4-2 victory Saturday, the Oregon State bats exploded Sunday afternoon, for a 12-2 rout of the Ducks and a 2-1 series win. The win improves OSU’s record to 20-11 overall, and 7-8 in conference play.

The Beavers wasted no time in jumping out to an early lead. Travis Bazzana led off with a walk, and then a Garret Forrester single put him in scoring position. Micah McDowell grounded out to put Bazzana on third, and then a fielder’s choice got the Beavers their first run. With two outs on the board, Oregon’s Leo Uelmen walked Brady Kasper and Dallas Macias to load the bases, and then Wilson Weber belted a big grand slam over the left field wall for a 5-0 Beaver lead.

In the top of the second a Travs Bazzana bunt scored Travis Bazzana, and in the top of the third a Brady Kasper solo home run scored one more run. That 7-0 lead held until the eighth inning, when the Beavers decided they weren’t done scoring.

That inning Garret Forrester belted a homer over the right field wall that also scored Kyle Dernedde, giving OSU a 9-0 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Oregon finally got on the board, when a wild pitch from Ben Ferrer allowed Rikuu Nishida to reach home.

With the Ducks showing some life and only up by 8 runs, Oregon State needed to put the game away in the top of the ninth. The inning started with Mason Guerra being walked before a Brady Kasper single put two runners on the base paths. A deep Dallas Macias double to right scored Guerra, and a fielding error scored Kasper. A couple batters later, a sacrifice fly from Easton Talt scored Macias for the Beavers’ 12th and final run of the game.

The Ducks got one run back in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to a Jacob Walsh double, but that would be all she wrote for the series in Eugene. After a tough first game, Oregon State really turned things around, looking dominant against a solid Pac-12 team.

AJ Lattery got the win for OSU. Lattery came on in relief in the third, and pitched for 4.0 innigns during which he allowed no hits or runs. He struck out 4 Ducks over that span.

Up next for the Beavers is a pair of midweek games against Gonzaga. Those games are Monday and Tuesday, meaning the Beavers will be playing games five days in a row as a consequence of last Thursday’s game being rained out. It could be a tough series for the Beavs. After that, they’ll have a home series against USC that starts Friday, April 14th.