NCAA Baseball: No. 5 Beavers Open Series by Blasting San Francisco, 11-1

OSU and San Francisco (9-10) continue their series Saturday at 1:00 PM.

OSU's Chris Hopkins Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - Chris Hopkins was 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and two runs batted in as fifth-ranked Oregon State beat San Francisco 11-1 in non-conference baseball Friday afternoon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

Mike Stutes and Anton Maxwell combined to pitch a three-hitter for the Beavers (18-3 overall), with Stutes striking out 11 in his eight innings of work.

On Friday, the Beavers put a pair of runs on the board in the first inning against USF lefthander Aaron Poreda, who figures to be a high-round selection in this year’s major league draft.

OSU built its lead to 9-1 by the time Poreda left and wound up with 14 hits for the game.

“These guys came out against a guy who’s probably a first-rounder and knocked him all over the yard, and that’s what we expect out of our hitters and that’s what they’re capable of doing every game,” Stutes said of the teammates who staked him to the early lead.

Hopkins had a bunt single to help key OSU’s two-run first inning. After the Dons’ got within 2-1 on Luke Sommer’s solo homer in the top of the second inning, Hopkins had a solo homer in the third inning, singled and scored in Oregon State’s three-run fifth, and doubled home a run and scored in the Beavers’ three-run sixth.

“Chris has been struggling offensively and it was really nice to see him swing the bat,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “He did a great job for us. Sometimes you give a guy an opportunity to play and they respond. I was happy for Chris; he’s worked hard.”

Hopkins, an outfielder who is one of many Beavers who have been in and out of the lineup so far this spring, has found ways to get on base in the early going but was batting .147 entering the game; his four-hit day pushed that up to .237.

“I felt confident all day today,” Hopkins said. “That’s my job, to get on base – that sparks the team.”

Hopkins’ homer to leftfield banged off the metal roof covering the batting cages behind the fence.

“I knew after the sound of it hitting the batting cage,” the transfer from Sierra Junior College said. “I didn’t know it was out at first.”

Stutes matched his career high of 11 strikeouts, set last season against New Mexico and in 2005 when he was pitching for Santa Clara against Brown.

He walked just one and allowed only three hits in his season-high eight innings of work against the Dons, who are the defending West Coast Conference champions.

“They’re a good team,” Stutes said. “The keyy to the game was getting ahead of these guys … that’s been the key for me all year, especially against a good-hitting team like this. If you’re ahead, you can do what you want, you can throw your pitches. If you’re behind, you’ve got to throw the fastball and they know what’s coming.”

After hitting a pair of batters in the fourth inning, Stutes retired 13 of the last 15 hitters he faced as he improved his record to 5-0 this season.

“Mike was good,” Casey said. “San Francisco is a very good club. I thought we did a good job offensively against a guy who’s real, real good (Poreda). It’s nice to get on the board early.”

The Beavers managed their two runs in the first inning without hitting a ball out of the infield on the fly.

Darwin Barney led off with a single through the right side, then Hopkins and Mike Lissman had back-to-back bunt singles to load the bases with none out.

Jason Ogata squibbed a run-scoring single up the first base line to make it 1-0; after a fielder’s choice for the first out, Mitch Canham delivered a run-scoring groundout for the 2-0 lead.

Canham added a two-out, bases loaded single up the middle in the fifth inning that drove in a pair of runs and a third run scored on an error on the play to make it 6-1.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Canham led off with a towering homer over the scoreboard in right-centerfield, his third of the year, to give the Beavers a 10-1 lead. Canham finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs.

Jordan Lennerton came off the bench to deliver a pair of run-scoring doubles for the Beavers, and Lissman was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and a run batted in.

Anton Maxwell pitched the ninth inning for Oregon State, retiring the side on nine pitches.

It was the 13th time in 21 games this season that Oregon State has held an opponent to three or fewer runs, and the fourth game in a row.

For San Francisco, Sommer was 2-for-3 with a home run. Poreda, who entered the game with a 3-1 record and 2.41 earned run average, took the loss as he pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits and three walks while striking out two.

OSU and San Francisco (9-10) continue their series Saturday at 1:00 PM and conclude it Sunday at noon.

Both games can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area; KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area will have delayed broadcasts Saturday at 2:00 PM and Sunday at 3:00 PM.

Live internet audio and video of both games is available via subscription at www.osubeavers.com.

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