No. 15 Oregon State Rallies to Beat Georgia, 10-8

OSU outfielder Mike Lissman Photo: OSU Athletics

ATHENS, Georgia - Oregon State scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning as the 15th-ranked Beavers beat Georgia 10-8 in non-conference baseball Friday evening at Foley Field.

Mike Lissman was 3-for-5 with a double and four runs batted in, and his two-run single in the ninth inning put OSU (5-0).

The Beavers and Bulldogs (0-1) resume their series on Saturday at 11:00 AM PST and conclude it Sunday at 10:00 AM PST.

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

On Friday, the Beavers trailed Georgia – whom they had beaten at the 2006 College World Series - by four runs after seven innings before rallying for the win.

OSU’s victory came at the expense of Georgia closer Joshua Fields, a hard-throwing righthander who had earned 15 saves in 2006.

The Beavers may no longer have a host of the players who won the 2006 national title, and who both won the Pac-10 championship and reached the CWS each of the past two seasons.

But wins like the one on Friday are the type that can help the current club build its own identity.

“Especially here – to come into a ballpark that’s really not built for us,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “It’s a bit of a bandbox, but it’s a beautiful, beautiful yard. It’s a hostile environment, they have a great crowd, we’re playing a club that was in the College World Series last year – that part is good for us. I think it’s a confidence-builder.

There’s a lot of work to do, but it’s always nice to win on the road. We left home at 3:00 AM Thursday and traveled across the country – they put out a courageous effort.

“I’m just happy the guys found a way to compete at the end of the game with so many kids who haven’t been in that situation. It’s a pretty good team effort. “I’d like to have seen us compete like that at the plate for the first six innings, but we really did compete there at the end. We got some big at-bats from some people.”

OSU’s comeback began in the top of the eighth inning when Lissman pulled a double into the leftfield corner to drive in a pair of runs and get the Beavers within 6-4.

That’s when Fields came in and got the Bulldogs out of the inning without further damage.

In the top of the ninth, Jordan Lennerton led of by grounding a single through the right side and Drew George followed with a walk to put the tying runs on base.

Koa Kahalahoe bunted them into scoring position for the top of the order, then Fields hit Darwin Barney with a pitch to load the bases.

Mitch Canham walked to force in a run and make it 6-5, then Lissman shot a single through the left side of the infield to drive in two runs and put the Beavers up 7-6.

After Joey Wong walked to reload the bases, Fields gave way to freshman Ryan Woolley.

Woolley walked John Wallace and Joey Lakowske to force in two more runs for a 9-6 OSU lead.

Eventually, a Georgia error on a potential inning-ending double play allowed another run to put OSU in front 10-6 going into the bottom of the ninth.

“It was everybody,” Lissman said of the comeback. “It was good for us to win early in the season like that, a comeback win. Teams have trouble finding that little extra something in the end when you’re behind, when you’re down, and it was good for us to do that. That was the important thing for us.”

Georgia made a push of its own in the bottom of the ninth. With two out and runners at first and second, Matt Cerione drove a pitch from Eddie Kunz into the right-centerfield gap to score both runners and make it 10-8; Cerione tried to stretch the hit into a triple, though, and the relay from centerfielder Kahalehoe to second baseman Joey Wong to third baseman George cut him down to end the game.

The Beavers were outhit 10-6, but took advantage of 10 Georgia walks to score the win in OSU’s first-ever game in a Southeastern Conference ballpark.

Senior righthander Jake McCormick got the win for OSU as he faced one hitter, striking out Blake Cannaday to end the bottom of the eighth inning with runners at the corners. It was McCormick’s first career victory at Oregon State.

Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham had a pair of homers to centerfield, and the first of those swung the momentum the Bulldogs’ way.

OSU had gone up 2-0 with single runs in the third and fourth innings, with the only Beaver hit to that point a double by Barney.

OSU starter Mike Stutes had given up just a pair of groundball singles to that point and he retired the first two Georgia hitters in the bottom of the fifth inning, including getting Luke Stewart on a fine running catch by Beaver centerfielder Chris Hopkins.

But after a walk and an infield single by Travis Parrott, Beckham launched a one-ball, no-strike pitch to the vicinity of the flagpole to put Georgia in front 3-2.

Georgia added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth on tow hits, a walk and an error against Stutes and reliever Alex Sogard to go up 5-2.

In the bottom of the seventh, Beckham – who had homered 12 times in 2006 – greeted OSU righthander Greg Keim with a solo homer to put Georgia ahead 6-2.

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