NCAA Baseball: No. 2 Oregon State Extends Win Streak to 12 Games

The Beavers begin Pac-10 play this weekend at Arizona.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Mike Lissman drove in five runs as second-ranked Oregon State extended its baseball winning streak to 12 games Monday afternoon, beating Cal Poly 13-1 in a non-conference game at Baggett Stadium.

Daniel Turpen, Blake Keitzman and Jorge Reyes combined to pitch a six-hitter for the Beavers (23-3 overall), who allowed just three runs and 14 hits in the three-game sweep of the Mustangs (13-16).

Earlier Monday, OSU moved up two places to No. 2 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll.

The Beavers are also ranked fourth this week by Baseball America magazine, second by Collegiate Baseball newspaper and fourth by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

The 12-game winning streak is Oregon State’s longest since the Beavers won 15 straight during the 1986 season.

OSU took a 5-0 lead with a four-run third inning that included Lissman’s three-run double, then put the game away with a six-run eighth inning.

“I thought we played a pretty complete game,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “I was pleased we were able to score some runs off a real good arm (Mustang starter Thomas Eager). I thought Daniel Turpen didn’t have his best stuff early, but he really competed well and that’s a big part of the whole thing – when you don’t have your best stuff, to come out and hold your club in the game until they can strike, and we did. I thought we were really motivated today to play.

“It’s a good way to start the trip. Now we’ve got a big, big weekend at Arizona; I talked to someone today who said they’re as good a team as he’s seen so far and now we’ll spend some time preparing for them.”

Lissman’s five runs batted in were a career high, and his 2-for-4 day extended his hitting streak to a career-best eight games.

In addition to the bases-loaded double in the third inning, he had a line-drive sacrifice fly in the seventh and a run-scoring single in the eighth.

“We got a little excited today,” Lissman said. “People are coming out to get us every day, and it’s nice when we come out and put runs up early and then bury somebody at the end. The last couple days, we’d get a run early, then get people on and move them over but we didn’t finish it and break somebody’s back.”

Are the Beavers ready for the Pac-10 season?

“As ready as we ever will be,” Lissman said. “Arizona is a good club and we’re going to have to get better every weekend. This weekend we were better than last weekend, so next weekend we have to be better than this weekend.”

Eager had come into the game with a 4-1 record and 2.15 earned run average, but the Beavers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Drew George doubled to left-centerfield and eventually scored on a two-out wild pitch.

In the third, Chris Hopkins led off with a single and Eager hit Darwin Barney and Mitch Canham to load the bases, then Lissman boomed his double to left-center for a 4-0 lead.

Lissman scored on Jason Ogata’s single to right to make it 5-0.

Hopkins was 3-for-4, giving him nine hits in his last five games, and had his 10th stolen base of the season.

Jordan Lennerton was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles as he pushed his hitting streak to nine games, the longest of the season for OSU, and George was 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs.

Turpen got the win to improve his record to 6-0 this season and 10-0 in his career; in 6 2/3 innings, he allowed one run on five hits and two walks while striking out two.

Blake Keitzman and Jorge Reyes combined to blank the Mustangs over the final 2 1/3 innings, as OSU limited an opponent to three or fewer runs for the 18th time in 26 games this season.

Oregon State has also allowed two or fewer runs in its last nine games, the longest such streak in a varsity baseball history dating back to 1907.

The best previous mark had been seven straight games of allowing two or fewer runs by the 1990 squad.

Cal Poly had a chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, trailing 5-1 and loading the bases with two out against Turpen.

Keitzman came in to face the top of the order and got Logan Schafer to hit into a forceout to end the frame with OSU’s four-run advantage intact.

The Beavers begin Pac-10 play this weekend at Arizona, with games Friday at 7:00 PM, Saturday at 6:00 PM and Sunday at noon.

All three games can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area; KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area; in the Portland area, KUIK-AM (1360) will broadcast Friday’s game live and Sundays game delayed at 3:00 PM.

Live audio and video of all three games will be available on the internet via subscription through Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com.

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