No. 25 Oregon State Falls to No. 7 Virginia in 13 Innings

OSU’s games in the tournament can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis-Salem area.

Photo: OSU Athletics

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Oregon State saw seventh-ranked Virginia push across three runs in the top of the 13th inning to beat the 25th-ranked Beavers 7-4 in the second round of the NCAA Charlottesville Regional baseball tournament Saturday evening at Davenport Field.

OSU (45-14 overall) had rallied to score with two out in the bottom of the 10th to tie the game, then the Beavers put the winning run on third base in the bottom of the 12th but couldn’t score.

OSU now plays Rutgers (42-20), an 11-10 winner over Lafayette in a Saturday game, on Sunday at 10 a.m. PDT.

The winner of that game advances to play Virginia (45-15) on Sunday at 3 p.m. PDT.

“We just have to play one game at a time and play a very good Rutgers team Sunday,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “We’ve got a short period of time to turn it around ... we’ve got to go back, get some rest, get up and play a ballgame.”

Added Beaver shortstop Darwin Barney: “We’ve been here before; we’ve had our backs to the wall for the last couple weeks. We’ll come out Sunday and our legs may be tired, but we won’t play like it. We’ll come out and play hard, and you’ll have to break our necks to beat us. It was a tough game.”

On Saturday, both the Beavers and Cavaliers had ample chances to win the game long before it concluded 4 hours, 53 minutes after the first pitch before a stadium-record crowd of 3,212.

“We had a lot of chances to win today and we know that,” Barney said. “If we get a bounce or maybe a call it would have helped, but there’s nothing you can do about that – it’s baseball. We’re at their park and the place is rumbling for them, and that’s the advantage of being the No. 1 seed.”

The Beavers’ best chance came in the bottom of the 12th inning against Virginia closer Casey Lambert, who wound up pitching the final 6 2/3 innings.

With one out, Chris Hopkins walked; Braden Wells then blooped a fly into short rightfield.

Cavalier rightfielder Mike Mitchell couldn’t make the diving catch, but he deflected the ball toward second baseman David Adams; Adams’ throw to shortstop Tyler Cannon covering second was in time to force out Hopkins.

Next, Mike Lissman chopped a single into rightfield that likely would have scored Hopkins from second base; instead, it sent Wells racing from first to third.

Mitch Canham then hit a line drive to center but there was just enough air under it to allow centerfielder Tim Henry to make the catch and end the inning.

Virginia then put the game away in the top of the 13th against OSU closer Eddie Kunz, who worked 4 2/3 innings, and Greg Keim with three runs on four hits and an intentional walk in the top of the 13th.

In the bottom of the inning, OSU did manage to bring the tying run to the plate when Ryan Ortiz was hit by a pitch with two out and Joey Wong singled through the left side, but Lambert got Lonnie Lechelt to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

The Beavers had trailed 4-3 going into the bottom of the 10th inning, but Hopkins led off with a single up the middle.

He advanced to second on a groundout that was the second out of the inning, then scored when Canham smashed a single down the first baseline that first baseman Sean Doolittle managed to deflect but couldn’t stop.

Oregon State had taken a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning on Darwin Barney’s mammoth two-out homer that cleared the back of the leftfield bleachers.

It could have been more than a solo shot save for the play that preceded it. Lissman had drawn a leadoff walk, then Canham drove a ball to the leftfield fence that leftfielder John Scaglione managed to snag with a twisting catch.

Lissman had gotten a step past second base and he retreated to first, but it was ruled that he hadn’t touched second on the way back and was called out.

Virginia then evened the game 3-3 in the top of the seventh inning on Patrick Wingfield’s two-out single up the middle off Mark Grbavac that scored Beau Seabury from second base.

The Cavaliers had managed to keep OSU starter Mike Stutes on the ropes but they could only get three runs off the righthander, stranding 11 runners with Stutes on the mound.

Stutes went 6 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and six walks (one intentional) while striking out nine.

Kunz took the loss to fall to 2-1 this season; in his 4 2/3 innings, he allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits and one walk while striking out one.

Facing Virginia righthander Jacob Thompson, who entered the game with an 11-0 record and 1.35 earned run average, the Beavers managed a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning for a 2-1 lead.

With one out, John Wallace lined a single to left-centerfield; Thompson then walked Lissman, Canham and Barney in succession to force in the tying run.

Jordan Lennerton then grounded out to first base to bring across Lissman with the go-ahead run.

In terms of innings, Saturday’s game was the Beavers’ longest since a 15-inning, 2-1 loss at California in 2002.

OSU’s games in the tournament can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis-Salem area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area and KMED-AM (1440) in the Medford area.

Live audio is available via subscription on the internet through Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com.

Live stats are available at www.ncaasports.com.

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