Grand Slam Boosts No. 8 Oregon State Past Evansville

“It was a really ugly swing, and thank God the wind kept it fair,” Canham said.

OSU catcher Mitch Canham Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - Mitch Canham’s grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning lifted eighth-ranked Oregon State to a 6-2 win over Evansville in non-conference baseball Friday afternoon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

Joe Paterson pitched seven innings and allowed one earned run for OSU (16-3 overall), which won its fifth straight game before a crowd of 1,787.

On Friday, Canham’s homer -- just OSU’s second hit of the game -- clanged off the rightfield foul pole to put Oregon State in front 4-2.

Koa Kahalehoe and Darwin Barney had been walked by Evansville starter Fred Jones to start the inning and then Jason Ogata had been hit by pitch with one out; that brought reliever Matt Brinkmann into the game.

Canham fell behind no balls, two strikes in the count, fouled off a pitch and then drove his second homer of the season.

“It was a really ugly swing, and thank God the wind kept it fair,” Canham said.

“When it went off (the bat), I saw it stay fair and then it started to hook because I was out in front of it. I got a little worried, and when it hit, I thought it hit off the bottom of the fence and was going to end up being a single because everybody is going to tag and move up one base. But it stayed up and good things happen sometimes.”

Said OSU head coach Pat Casey: “I’m very proud of Mitch for sticking with it. Evansville outplayed us; we got away with having a big inning -- we just didn’t come out with the aggressiveness we need to. We’re playing a good club and they showed it tonight; their guy (Jones) was good and he kept us off balance. He was outstanding.”

Jones, a righthander, retired the first 10 Oregon State hitters of the night and didn’t allow a hit until Mike Lissman singled to left with one out in the fifth inning.

“He had a good fastball and his changeup looked just like his fastball, so it was really hard to pick up,” Canham said of Jones. “He was throwing his breaking ball for strikes. I thought their starter was really competitive and had good stuff.”

While OSU was trying to get its bats going, Paterson kept the Beavers in the game with some help from his defense.

The lefthander walked a pair of hitters in the first inning but Oregon State turned a line drive into an inning-ending double play; in the second and third, Paterson allowed groundball singles up the middle but OSU turned in two more double plays to keep the game scoreless.

Evansville broke through in the fourth inning when Kasey Wahl and Pat Tumilty hit back-to-back doubles to go in front 1-0.

The Purple Aces made it 2-0 in the top of the sixth when Tumilty tripled to center with one out and scored on a passed ball.

Paterson retired the final five hitters he faced, though, to improve his record to 3-1 this season. He pitched an OSU career-high seven innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out four.

“Joe gets really pumped up to play,” Canham said. “Once you get through that first inning with him, he’s able to settle down and pitch like he can. I don’t think Joe understands how good he is yet; when Joe understands how dominant his stuff is and he relaxes out there, not a lot of people are going to touch him. They hardly do as it is.”

Oregon State added two more runs against UE reliever Mark Murray in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Ogata led off with a double down the leftfield line and went to third as Canham singled through the right side; Jordan Lennerton then singled through the right side to score Ogata for a 5-2 lead.

After John Wallace walked with two out to load the bases, Murray bounced a wild pitch that plated Canham to make it 6-2.

Canham was 2-for-4 for OSU with the homer, four runs batted in and two runs scored for his seventh multi-hit game of the season.

Canham’s grand slam was the Beavers’ second of the season; Darwin Barney had hit one at Sacramento State on Feb. 25th that had been OSU’s first in nearly two years.

Mark Grbavac pitched the final two innings for Oregon State to earn his second save of the season, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out three.

It was the 11th time in their 19 games this season that the Beavers have allowed three or fewer runs.

For Evansville, Tumilty was 2-for-4 with one run batted in and one run scored, and Ryan Barrett was 2-for-4.

Jones took the loss, dropping his record to 0-2, as he pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on one hit and three walks while striking out three.

The Beavers and Purple Aces (9-6) conclude their series on Saturday at 1:00 PM.

The game can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, and in Spanish on LaX sports.

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

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