No. 5 Beavers Keep Top Spot in Pac-10 Baseball Race

Salem-News.com Sports

TEMPE, Ariz. - Oregon State overcame a four-run deficit and the No.5-ranked Beavers held onto first place in the Pacific-10 baseball race with a 9-8 win over No. 17-ranked Arizona State on Sunday afternoon at Winkles Field/Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.

OSU (35-13 overall, 12-6 Pac-10) is now two games ahead of ASU and and UCLA and 2 1/2 games ahead of Southern California.

The Beavers now go to Washington State next Friday through Sunday before returning home to finish the season against UCLA from May 26th-28th.

On a hot Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 2,544, the Beavers trailed 7-3 after three innings but eventually tied the game at 7-7 in the fifth inning.

OSU got the winning run in the top of the ninth on a pair of two-out errors, with Tyler Graham reaching base on shortstop Andrew Romine`s throwing error, stealing second, then scoring when second baseman Seth Dhaenens misplayed Mitch Canham`s sharply hit ball to the right side.

�I can`t tell you how impressed I am at how our guys came out here after the way we lost the first two games, stand in the 102-degree heat and win this game after nothing was going right for us early,� OSU head coach Pat Casey said. �To see Gundy (closer Kevin Gunderson) come out and do that against a team that`s playing as well as anybody in the country is just unbelievable.

This is a tough place to play ... I told (assistant coach) Dan Spencer before the game that I thought the team that won this game today could really have a shot at winning the championship in this league.

Less than a day after taking the loss in the Beavers` 6-3 defeat on Saturday night, Gunderson earned the win to even his season record at 2-2. In 2 2/3 innings, Gunderson allowed one run on two hits and no walks, striking out two and he retired the Sun Devils in order in the ninth.

�Gundy doing that is a credit to his character,� Casey said. �I tried to tell him Saturday night that the sun doesn`t shine one the same dog every day. He`s done it every stinking time out, and sometimes it`s going to happen that way.�

Darwin Barney, batting in the leadoff spot for the first time this season, was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs batted in as the Beavers collected 14 hits. Chris Kunda was 2-for-5 with a double and one RBI, John Wallace was 2-for-5 with one RBI and Bill Rowe was 2-for-4 for the Beavers, who avoided having their first three-game losing streak of the season.

The Beavers managed an 8-7 lead with a run in the top of the eighth inning off ASU closer Zechry Zinicola. Canham drew a leadoff walk then took second with one out when ASU catcher Preston Paramore`s throw on a pickoff try went into rightfield; Barney then singled to right-centerfield to drive home Canham.

ASU tied it at 8-8 in the bottom of the against Gunderson inning. Romine led off with a single up the middle, was sacrificed to second and took third on Colin Curtis` infield single, scoring on Eric Sogard`s sacrifice fly.

Oregon State had evened the game at 7-7 with a three-run fifth inning. Cole Gillespie walked to start the inning and stole second, then with one out pinch hitter Geoff Wagner coaxed a full-count walk to put runners at first and second.

Rowe pushed a sacrifice bunt toward third base; third baseman C.J. Retherford`s throw got past first baseman Ike Davis and rolled down the rightfield line as Gillespie and Wagner scored and Rowe went all the way to third. Graham then grounded out to short to score Rowe and tie the score.

The Beavers pulled within 7-4 in the top of the fourth as Canham doubled to left with one out and then scored on Barney`s two-out double down the rightfield line.

Arizona State went up 5-3 with a five-run second inning against OSU righthander Mike Stutes and reliever Joe Paterson in the bottom of the second inning.

Davis, the Pac-10 leader in runs batted in, homered to right-center to start the inning. The Sun Devils then got a one-out double by Brett Wallace, walks by Paramore and Seth Dhaenens, a run-scoring infield single by Romine and a two-run single through the left side by Sontag. Against Paterson, Curtis doubled off the glove of diving second baseman Kunda to drive in the final run.

Arizona State tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Retherford and a two-run homer to right-centerfield by Wallace for a 7-3 lead.

OSU had moved to a 3-0 lead by the middle of the second inning and had chased Arizona State lefthander Jeff Urlaub.

In the first, Barney drew a leadoff walk, went to second on John Wallace`s single to rightfield and scored on Gillespie`s sacrifice fly to right to go up 1-0.

In the second, Rowe led with a single, then with two out Kunda, Barney and Wallace delivered successive singles with Kunda and Wallace driving in runs before Sun Devil reliever Pat Bresnehan retired the side. The Beavers had been denied a chance for an even bigger inning in the second.

With runners at the corners and none out, Canham grounded to short; ASU retired Graham at second base but Canham beat the relay to first and Rowe crossed the plate. However, Graham was called for interference so Canham was declared out and Rowe had to return to third base.

Shea McFeely joined OSU`s all-time top 10 for career hits with a two-out single up the middle in the first inning. It was the 180th hit of McFeely`s career, matching Kevin Hooker`s total from 1991-95.

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