No. 15 OSU Defeats Georgia Again, 7-3

Photo: OSU Athletics

ATHENS, Georgia - Oregon State scored seven runs in the top of the eighth inning and the 15th-ranked Beavers beat Georgia 7-3 in non-conference baseball Saturday afternoon at Foley Field.

Jordan Lennerton’s three-run double tied the game, then he scored the go-ahead run on Koa Kahalehoe’s single as OSU (6-0 overall) rallied in the late innings for the second straight day.

The Beavers and Bulldogs (0-2) conclude their series Sunday at 10:00 AM.

The game can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area and KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area.

On Friday, the Beavers had scored eight runs in the final two innings to take a 10-8 win over Georgia in the series-opener.

On Saturday, OSU had managed just three hits in the first seven innings before putting up the seven runs on six hits and two walks in the eighth inning.

“That’s another great comeback,” Oregon State head coach Pat Casey said.

“Our guys really battled. It was disappointing early, because we had chances to execute some things at the plate and we didn’t, and it cost us. But we hung with it – right now, we’re not doing a good job offensively but our pitching is keeping us in games.”

Junior lefthander Joe Paterson kept the Beavers close on Saturday, pitching six innings and allowing just one run on five hits and no walks while striking out two.

Freshman righthander Jorge Reyes allowed a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the seventh inning that put Georgia up 3-0, but he also struck out three hitters in his 1 1/3 innings of work as he earned his first collegiate win.

Sophomore righthander Mark Grbavac finished things off, pitching a perfect 1 2/3 innings and striking out three.

“Joe was really consistent with his off-speed stuff – he kept them off-balance, and that’s a team that’s got some juice,” Casey said of the Bulldogs, who have hit four homers in the first two games of the series.

“Mark was outstanding at the end of the game. And even after the homers, Jorge wanted the ball – he didn’t back away from anything and came back and got thos strikeouts, and that really helped us out.”

After the homers by Luke Stewart and Jonathan Wyatt put Georgia in front 3-0 after seven innings, the Beavers put together their highest-scoring inning of the season in the top of the eighth against Bulldog relievers Dean Weaver and Iain Sebastian.

Mitch Canham started the rally with a groundball single to the right side, then Mike Lissman singled through the left side.

Pinch-hitter John Wallace’s bunt to move the runners over was placed well enough for him to beat out an infield single, loading the bases with none out.

Weaver then fanned pinch-hitter Scott Santschi for the first out.

That brought Lennerton to the plate, and on a one-ball, no-strike pitch the big first baseman drove the ball into the right-centerfield gap.

It rolled all the way to the wall as Canham, Lissman and Wallace all scored to knot the game at 3-3 with Lennerton winding up at second.

That brought Sebastian into the game, and he walked Drew George to put runners at first and second.

Kahalehoe then bounced a single through the right side, with Lennerton trucking all the way home with the go-ahead run.

Joey Wong followed with a groundball just inside first base that carried into the rightfield corner for a triple, scoring George from second and Kahalehoe from first to make it 6-3.

Darwin Barney walked to put runners at the corners, then Canham drove a sacrifice fly to left that brought home Wong for a 7-3 Beaver lead. Lissman flied out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

“We stuck with it,” Casey said. “And we did that with new guys at just about every position except catcher (Canham) and shortstop (Barney).

With the win, the Beavers have won eight straight games over the past two seasons.

OSU won the final two games of the 2006 College World Series over North Carolina to capture the national championship.

Canham was 2-for-3 for the Beavers, raising his batting average to .563 this season. Lissman’s 2-for-5 day puts him at 5-for-10 in the series and at .364 for the season.

For Georgia, centerfielder and leadoff hitter Jonathan Wyatt was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.

In the series, he’s reached base in eight of his 10 trips to the plate – twice with hits, three times via walk, twice via error and once after being hit by pitch.

The win assured OSU of the series victory in its first-ever visit to a Southeastern Conference ballpark.

The three-game set is a rematch of the Beavers’ 5-3 win over the Bulldogs in last season’s CWS.

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