Pac-10 Baseball: No. 11 Oregon State Rips WSU, 11-5

A crowd of 2,035 saw the Beavers, who had been beaten 5-4 on Friday night, improved their home record to 15-3 this season.

OSU first baseman Jordan Lennerton Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State’s Jordan Lennerton delivered a bases-loaded double and a triple as the 11th-ranked Beavers beat Washington State 11-5 in Pac-10 baseball Saturday afternoon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

OSU (36-12 overall, 8-9 Pac-10) also got a three-run home run from Mike Lissman during a five-run seventh inning.

On Saturday, Lennerton’s bases-loaded double in the bottom of the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Beavers the lead for good.

A crowd of 2,035 saw the Beavers, who had been beaten 5-4 on Friday night, improved their home record to 15-3 this season and 68-12 since the start of the 2005 season.

“We scored a bunch of runs and that made it a lot easier,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “I thought we were a lot sharper, we came to the ballpark ready to play. We made some moves to try to get some people motivated to play the game, and it worked out for us.”

Catcher Erik Ammon got his first start of the season in conference play and singled, scored a run and had a sacrifice fly.

Lonnie Lechelt saw just his third start in the past month and helped the Beavers – who lead the nation in fielding percentage - play errorless defense for the third straight game.

“Erik Ammon came in and gave us a lift,” Casey said. “He had a hit, he drove in a run, and he handled the pitching well. And I thought Lonnie Lechelt made some real good plays at third base.”

Daniel Turpen earned the pitching win in relief of starter Joe Paterson, who went 4 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out three.

Turpen improved his record to 8-1 this season by going three innings and allowing two runs on five hits before Eddie Kunz picked up the final four outs.

“I thought Joe Paterson gave us a good start,” Casey said. “And I thought Daniel Turpen was good. We were hoping he might finish it for us, but we knew we were in a situation where we needed to win the game. It was a gamble to go with Joe on a day like today because the ball was really jumping to leftfield and I really thought he gave us a good start.”

At the plate, Lennerton finished 2-for-4 for OSU and Lissman was 2-for-4 while Chris Hopkins was 3-for-5 with a double and one run batted in, Mitch Canham was 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI and Joey Wong was 2-for-5 with a triple and one RBI.

“We’re at the point where our backs are against the wall, and it seems like that’s when we play our best,” Lissman said. “We’ve got something to play for and we realize it’s slipping if we don’t grab it, so we have to take the bull by the horns.”

With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Canham, Darwin Barney and Lissman hit consecutive singles to load the bases with one out.

That brought Lennerton to the plate, and he poked a double just inside the leftfield line to score all three runners for a 4-1 OSU lead.

“We needed to get something going,” said Lennerton, who delivered his third bases-loaded double in the last month. “I knew everyone was behind me – our guys, the fans. Everyone was cheering, and I just knew I had to come through because it was a big situation for us. I’m glad I could help out the club.”

OSU’s lead was 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh.

The Beavers picked up five runs in the inning as they hit for the cycle as a team in the frame, getting a single from Jason Ogata, a double from Canham, Lissman’s homer and Lennerton’s triple.

Lissman had come to the plate with the bases loaded, but two pitches before he hit his sixth homer of the year Cougar reliever Seth Harvey had uncorked a wild pitch to plate Ogata so Lissman had to settle for the three-run homer instead of the grand slam.

“It happens,” laughed Lissman, whose fly over the leftfield fence put OSU in front 8-2. “Whatever it takes to win games is what we have to do.”

Lennerton followed that with a drive off the centerfield fence. He motored around second base and slid into third with the first triple of his OSU career.

“I was coming up on second base and I saw (third base) coach (Marty) Lees had his arms up, and I was just waiting for his arms to drop and send me,” said Lennerton, whose last triple had been two years ago while a freshman at El Paso Community College. “It’s the first triple I’ve hit in a couple years, not being the fastest guy around, but I think it’s one of the most exciting parts off the game.”

Ammon then drove in Lennerton with a sacrifice fly to make it 9-2.

After the Cougars picked up a pair of runs in the top of the eighth, Oregon State finished its scoring in the bottom of the inning as Hopkins led off with a double to right-centerfield, Wong tripled to right-center to drive him in, then Canham drove in Wong with a sacrifice fly for an 11-4 lead.

The Cougars then picked up the game’s final run in the top of the ninth.

The Beavers and Cougars (24-22, 7-13) wrap up their series Sunday at 1:00 PM.

The game 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 carry the game delayed at 3:00 PM.

The game can be heard in Spanish live on KXOR-AM (660) in the Eugene area, KXPD-AM (1040) in the Portland area and KLES-FM (101.7) in the Yakima, Wash. area.

Live audio and video are available via subscription on the internet through Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com, and live stats are also available at www.osubeavers.com.

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