No. 9 Oregon State Routs Portland, 10-1

Daniel Turpen picked up the win, improving his record to 7-1 this season.

OSU first baseman Jordan Lennerton Photo: OSU Athletics

PORTLAND - Jordan Lennerton doubled home three runs during Oregon State’s eight-run seventh inning as the ninth-ranked Beavers beat Portland 10-1 in non-conference baseball Tuesday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field.

Jason Ogata was 3-for-5 with a double and drove in three runs for OSU (32-8 overall).

Oregon State visits Stanford this weekend for a Pac-10 series, with games Friday at 7:00 PM, Saturday at 1:00 PM and Sunday at 12:30 PM. Friday’s game will be televised by CSTV and Saturday’s game will be televised by FSN.

All three games can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area; KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area will carry the first two games live and the final game delayed at 3 p.m. All three games can be heard in Spanish on KXQR-AM (660) in the Eugene area, and the final two games can also be heard on KXPD-AM (1040) in the Portland area and KLES-FM (101.7) in the Yakima, Wash., area. Live audio is available on the internet via subscription through Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com.

On Tuesday, a sellout crowd of 1,002 - including a large contingent of OSU fans – saw the Beavers and Pilots (17-22) lock up in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel through six innings.

Oregon State then erupted for eight runs on six hits in the seventh inning, including doubles by Lennerton and Mitch Canham, a two-run single and a run-scoring single by Ogata, and a run-scoring single by Darwin Barney.

“Tuesday games are difficult for everybody, and it’s always good to win them,” said OSU head coach Pat Casey, whose team had to come from behind to beat Portland two weeks earlier. “We’re happy to be able to come up here. I thought we played solid; I think we could swing the bat a little better.”

Daniel Turpen picked up the win, improving his record to 7-1 this season as he pitched five innings and allowed one run on four hits and four walks while striking out two.

Relievers Greg Keim, Anton Maxwell and Alex Sogard finished off the five-hitter for OSU, which has limited opponents to three or fewer runs in 24 of 40 games this season.

Oregon State finally cracked the game open in the top of the seventh.

Joey Wong drew a leadoff walk against UP reliever Chris Siegfried and was sacrificed to second by John Wallace, then Ogata singled to center to drive him in.

Canham bounced a double down the rightfield line to send Ogata to third, then Mike Lissman was intentionally walked to load the bases. Barney singled to drive in one run and make it 4-1.

Portland brought in Josh Roberts to face Lennerton, and Lennerton drove his two-ball, one-strike pitch off the top of the fence in leftfield.

Canham scored easily, but behind him Barney – running from first – nearly caught Lissman, running from second. The two baserunners and the relay throw arrived at the plate at just about the same time, but both Barney and Lissman managed to touch the plate before Crowder could apply the tag and OSU had a 7-1 lead.

“We weren’t doing much, so it made one inning exciting, anyway,” Casey said of the play. “I thought it was a great read on Darwin’s part; the other guy needed to get going a little bit.”

Scott Santschi singled and Lennerton went to third, Lennerton scored on Drew George’s groundout to make it 8-1.

After Wong again walked and Wallace walked as well, Ogata stroked a single up the middle to put OSU in front 10-1.

Ogata’s three hits were his OSU career high, and his three RBIs matched his OSU career high. Barney was also 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a pair of stolen bases for the Beavers.

OSU had taken a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Ogata doubled to left-centerfield with one out and Canham walked.

Mike Lissman grounded into a fielder’s choice put runners at the corners with two out, then Barney singled home Ogata with Lissman taking third, and Lissman scored on a wild pitch by Pilot starter Danny Meier.

Portland plated its run in the bottom of the second. With two out, Turpen walked Jeff Arbayo and he took second when Turpen’s pickoff throw got away from first baseman Lennerton.

Jesse Rodgers walked to put runners at first and second, then Paul Crowder singled back up the middle to drive in Arbayo and make it 2-1.

Turpen’s error ended a string of six straight games in which the Beavers had played errorless defense; OSU has committed one or fewer errors in 22 of 40 games this season.

The crowd was the largest-ever at the Pilots’ ballpark, topping the 957 for a game against Washington State on April 13th, 1991.

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