Oregon State Begins Title Defense With No-Hitter

It was OSU’s first no-hitter since April 11th, 1967.

OSU's Mike Stutes. Photo: OSU Athletics

HILO, Hawaii - Oregon State’s Mike Stutes, Josh Keller, Mark Grbavac and Jorge Reyes combined to pitch a no-hitter as the Beavers beat Hawaii-Hilo 5-0 on Thursday evening in the baseball season-opener for both teams at Wong Stadium.

It was the third no-hitter in OSU history, and the first in 40 years.

On Thursday, the Beavers began defense of their 2006 national championship and their centennial season of varsity baseball, and they did it in a special way.

Stutes struck out seven hitters in five innings of work, then Keller worked two innings and Grbavac and Reyes one each to finish off the no-hitter.

“It just shows that we’ve got a lot of potential in our pitching staff, maybe more than people give us credit for,” OSU shortstop Darwin Barney said. “We’re just going to keep working hard and getting better to help them out.”

It was OSU’s first no-hitter since April 11th, 1967, when Cleve Benson, Eric Selberg and Jack Humphrey blanked Portland 11-0 in Corvallis; the Beavers’ only other no-hitter was thrown by Fred Gallagher in a 1-0 win over Montana on April 12th, 1947 in Corvallis.

The Beavers picked up an unearned run in the first inning, added a single run in the fifth and then got a pair of runs in the eighth and a final run in the ninth.

OSU collected 10 hits but left 15 runners on base, and UHH righthander Lars Knepper fanned 10 hitters in his 4 2/3-inning start.”

“It wasn’t a thing of beauty,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “The first one is always tough ... some guys played tight and we made a lot of mistakes offensively. Their first kid really threw the ball well, but we had a chance to open the game up and we didn’t. It’s a good thing we got solid pitching – all four of them did a good job.”

The Vulcans had a couple of chances at hits that were taken away by OSU’s defense.

In the bottom of the first inning, Dayne Ogawa grounded a ball back up the middle but freshman second baseman Joey Wong went to his right, flagged it down and threw across his body to first in time to record the out.

In the fifth inning, Robby Mowers hit a long fly to right that OSU rightfielder John Wallace managed to snag just in front of the warning track.

Stutes had walked David Chu to start the first inning and wild pitched him to second, but OSU catcher Mitch Canham threw him out trying to steal third.

From the first inning into the fourth, the junior righthander had a run in which he retired 10 straight Vulcans and struck out six of them.

Keller, a sophomore righthander, struck out two as he pitched a perfect two innings and Grbavac fanned one hitter as he retired the side in order in his inning.

Reyes, a freshman righthander, issued a leadoff walk in the ninth but that was erased on a double play.

Finally, pinch hitter Ronel Trias bounced a no-ball, one-strike pitch to first baseman Jordan Lennerton, who fielded it cleanly and took it to the bag to record the final out.

Canham finished 4-for-5 with a double and a run batted in for OSU, while Lennerton and Braden Wells were both 2-for-5.

Barney, Jason Ogata and Mike Lissman also drove in runs for the Beavers.

With the win, OSU improved to 69-29 all-time on Opening Day, and the Beavers have won 15 of their last 21 season-openers.

It was Oregon State’s earliest season-opener ever, moving ahead of the Jan. 31st, 2002 loss by a 13-5 score at Arizona State.

The Beavers and Vulcans continue their series with a doubleheader Friday at 3:00 PM PST in Hilo and conclude it on Saturday at 3:00 PM PST in Hilo.

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