Oregon State Bangs Out 12-4 Win Over Arizona State

Former Sprague star Joey Wong was 2-for-4 for the Beavers.

Photo: OSU Athletics

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Oregon State’s Jason Ogata and Lonnie Lechelt drove in three runs apiece as the 15th-ranked Beavers beat 14th-ranked Arizona State 12-4 in the Coca-Cola Classic baseball tournament Saturday afternoon at Surprise Stadium.

Joe Paterson and Eddie Kunz combined to pitch a five-hitter for the Beavers (8-1 overall) in a matchup of the teams picked to finish atop the Pac-10.

On Saturday, the Beavers took the lead with a three-run fourth inning and then put together a six-run seventh inning put take control against the Sun Devils (6-3).

A preseason poll of Pac-10 coaches picked ASU to win the conference title and OSU – the defending national champion and two-time defending conference champion – to finish second.

Ogata and Lechelt, who have seen their struggles at the plate, contributed to the win in a big way.

Ogata finished 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, while Lechelt was 2-for-3 with a stolen base and three RBIs.

Their fortunes took an upward turn in the top of the fourth inning against ASU.

With one out and runners at first and second, Ogata laced a double down the leftfield line to drive a pair of runs and tie the game 3-3.

Two hitters later, Lechelt lined a single to centerfield to drive Ogata home and put the Beavers in front for good at 4-3.

Lechelt added a two-out, run-scoring single in the sixth inning to give OSU a 5-3 lead.

In the Beavers’ six-run seventh, Ogata shot a run-scoring single through the left side of the infield and Lechelt added a sacrifice fly as Oregon State went in front 11-3.

Ogata, a sophomore infielder, was expected to be a spark in the OSU lineup after transferring from Louisiana State.

Entering Saturday’s game, though, the product of Westview High in Beaverton was hitting .182 with no extra base hits and two runs batted in.

“The coaches have been really confident in me, keeping me in the lineup,” Ogata said. “They tell me to keep swinging it and it will come. Finally, today they needed me in that clutch situation and I finally got one. Hopefully, I can keep it rolling and see where it goes from there.

“It was a relief to get that. It boosted my confidence a little bit.”

Lechelt batted .087 in 2006; he came up with four hits in Oregon State’s season-opening series at Hawaii-Hilo but had gone 0-for-4 in a series at Georgia last week.

“It was good, especially after my first at-bat,” Lechelt said of his day at the plate, which started when he took a called third strike from Sun Devil lefthander Joey Parigi. “The first two innings, a lot of our guys were taking called third strikes so there was a real emphasis on going back up the middle, making sure you’re hitting – with two strikes, especially – and getting guys on base and scoring some runs.”

A solid defender, Lechelt had already turned in three nifty plays at third base on Saturday by the time he got things going with the bat.

“After you make a couple defensive plays, things just start to click together and it did today,” Lechelt said. “It’s just confidence.”

ASU had taken a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning against Patterson.

But the junior lefthander induced three straight fielder’s choice groundouts to end the inning and avoid big damage, and that started a run of 12 straight hitters retired by Paterson.

Paterson went a career-high 6 2/3 innings to improve his record to 2-0 this season, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits and one walk while striking out two.

He held ASU – batting .379 as a team coming into the game – scoreless from the fourth through sixth innings while the Beavers scored 10 unanswered runs for an 11-3 lead.

Kunz went the final 2 1/3 innings, with the junior righthander allowing just one hit while striking out two.

OSU’s six-run inning was built on four hits, three walks and a pair of hit batters; both Mitch Canham and Scott Santschi were plunked with the bases loaded to force in runs. Chris Hopkins capped the inning with a two-run single.

Braden Wells was 2-for-3 and Joey Wong was 2-for-4 for the Beavers.

The game followed a pattern the Beavers have set in early-season Phoenix-area tournaments the past two seasons.

In both 2005 and 2006, OSU has lost close games to Gonzaga and soundly beaten ASU on the same weekend.

Saturday’s game drew a crowd of 5,582, the largest in the five-year history of the Coca-Cola Classic.

OSU wraps up the tournament against Missouri on Sunday at 8:45 AM PST; the winner of that game will be the tourney champion.

The game can be heard live via subscription on www.osubeavers.com, and it will be tape delayed on KUIK-AM 1360 in the Portland area at 2:30 PM.

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