Buck Tosses Three-Hitter as No. 10 Beavers Beat Washington State

Salem-News.com Sports

PULLMAN, Wa - Dallas Buck pitched a three-hitter and Mitch Canham homered drove in a career-high five runs for Oregon State as the No. 10-ranked Beavers beat Washington State 16-1 in Pacific-10 baseball Friday night at Bailey-Brayton Field. Canham and Chris Kunda drove in three runs each during a 10-run fifth inning for OSU (36-13 overall, 13-6 Pac-10), which maintained its two-game lead in the Pac-10 race over Arizona State and UCLA.

The Beavers and Cougars (34-19, 9-10) continue their series on Saturday at 2:00 PM and conclude it Sunday at 12:00 noon.

Buck – who earlier in the week was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Clemens Award, given annually to the nation`s top collegiate pitcher – walked one and struck out six in pitching his first complete game of the season and the second of his career. The junior lefthander needed just 102 pitches and was aided by the Beaver infield turning four double plays behind him; the game took only 2 hours, 28 minutes plus a 34-minute delay caused by lightning in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“It felt good – I felt better after the break; I`m just strange that way,“ said Buck, who was going against a WSU team that led the Pac-10 with a .323 batting average going into the series. As far as whether he felt he had his best control and movement of the year, he simply said, “I can usually tell by the swings guys are getting.“

The Cougars` only hits were a solo homer by freshman standout Jared Prince to lead off the second inning, Travis Coulter`s single up the middle to start the fourth and Jim Murphy`s double to center to lead off the fifth. Other than that, Ryan Krauser`s lineout to leftfield and Jay Miller`s lineout to second were the best-hit balls against Buck.

Buck improved to 10-2 on the season, giving him back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins; his 10 wins tie him for ninth on OSU`s all-time list of single-season leaders. His 25-7 career record ties him for sixth place on OSU`s all-time list of career wins leaders.

When he walked off the mound after four innings, Buck was in a taut 1-1 game. By the time he went out to pitch the fifth, Buck had the cushion of an 11-1 advantage thanks to that 10-run inning.

“You knew those guys had it in them,“ Buck said of his teammates swinging the bats. “They finally got it to come out tonight.“

The inning started with WSU lefthander Reese Baker walking Mike Lissman on four pitches, then Canham lofting a full-count pitch over the fence in right-centerfield to give OSU a 3-1 lead. The Beavers used seven hits, three walks and a hit batter in the inning; they got a three-run double by Kunda, a two-run single by Bill Rowe, a run-scoring single by Darwin Barney, a run-scoring single by Canham and a bases-loaded walk by Tyler Graham against Baker and relievers Mike Wagner and Ross Humes.

It was the first time the Beavers had scored in double-digits in an inning since putting up 13 runs in the second inning of a 19-3 win over St. John`s in the NCAA Corvallis Regional on June 5 last season. The 16 runs matched OSU`s season-high, which came in a 16-1 win over New Mexico on April 28.

Barney, in his second game in the leadoff spot, was 4-for-6 with a double to tie his career-high for hits. Canham was 3-for-5 with the homer and five runs batted in, Graham was 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base, Kunda was 2-for-3 with the double and three RBIs, Shea McFeely was 2-for-5 with a double and one RBI.

Washington State opened the scoring when Prince homered off Buck, driving a one-ball, one-strike pitch well beyond the leftfield fence. OSU tied the game at 1-1 after Lissman started the inning with a single to right to become the first Beaver baserunner; a forceout and a groundout put Canham at second base, then Barney snuck a sharply-hit double just inside first base to drive in Canham.

After the 10-run outburst, OSU tacked on a run-scoring double by McFeely and a run-scoring single by Graham in the sixth inning to make it 13-1. The final runs came in the top of the eighth as Lissman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Canham poked a two-run single through the left side.

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