Nickerson Pitches No. 10 Beavers Past Washington State 10-2

Salem-News.com Sports

PULLMAN, Wash. - Jonah Nickerson pitched a five-hitter and Mitch Canham drove in four runs for Oregon State as the No. 10-ranked Beavers beat Washington State 10-2 in Pacific-10 baseball Saturday afternoon at Bailey-Brayton Field. With the win, OSU (37-13 overall, 14-6 Pac-10) maintained at least a two-game lead in the Pac-10 race pending the outcome of Arizona State`s game at Arizona Saturday night.

OSU and WSU (34-20, 9-11) wrap up their series Sunday at 12 noon.

On Saturday, Nickerson walked three and struck out eight as he improved his record to 9-3 this season. The Beavers got a complete game for the second straight day, as Dallas Buck had pitched a three-hitter in Friday night`s 16-1 win.

“That`s hard to do, and it`s really hard to do against a good offensive club,“ OSU head coach Pat Casey said of the back-to-back complete games. “Jonah was outstanding. The ballpark played small today and he was lights-out to allow us to go nine (innings) with him and not get into our bullpen. You never know what could happen on a Sunday, so that was big.“

Nickerson surrendered single runs in the second and third innings, and had to work out of bases-loaded jams in the second and fourth. But over the last 5 1/3 innings, the junior righthander faced the minimum number of hitters; the only baserunner during that time reached on an error but was erased on a double play.

“I felt better as the game went on,“ said Nickerson, who retired the last 10 hitters he faced and struck out five of them. “I struggled in the second and third innings with my command a little and got the ball up … then I found a groove the rest of the game and was throwing strikes down in the zone. I settled down a little; I had some adrenaline going the first couple innings. Once I got rid of that, I was good to go.“

Going into the weekend, WSU was leading the Pac-10 in hitting with a .323 team batting average; Buck and Nickerson limited the Cougars to three runs on eight hits in the series` first two games.

“You just have to go after every one of their hitters,“ Nickerson said. “You have to go after them and keep the ball down.“

OSU had gone up 8-2 with a four-run fourth inning, but WSU loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the inning for Jay Miller, who is closing in on the Cougars` record for career hits. Miller hit a high drive down the leftfield line, but Beaver leftfielder Cole Gillespie was able to race over and make the catch on the edge of the warning track to end the inning.

“That was what I needed to get out of the jam – for someone to pick me up defensively,“ Nickerson said. “Then I guess I just rolled on through it after that.“

The Beavers` four-run fourth inning against WSU righthander Wayne Daman Jr. and lefthanded reliever Jayson Miller included three runs crossing the plate with two out. It was the product of five hits, including a run-scoring double off the rightfield wall by Mike Lissman, a run-scoring single to center by John Wallace, and a two-run double by Canham.

Canham, who was 2-for-3 with a double, now has nine runs batted in for the series. The Beavers scored in double digits in two straight games for the first time since they did it in three straight games against Texas-Pan American and Arizona from April 1-8.

Wallace was 3-for-5 with three runs scored for OSU, while Gillespie was 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and a stolen base and Lissman was 2-for-4 with two doubles and one RBI.

The Beavers tacked on two more unearned runs in the top of the eighth on just one hit, a run-scoring single by Canham. The frame included a pair of stolen bases by Darwin Barney and steals by Gillespie and Canham.

Oregon State jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning on just one hit. Barney walked, Wallace singled to right and Gillespie walked to load the bases with none out; Canham drew another walk to force in the first run, Shea McFeely lifted a sacrifice fly to right to plate the second, and Bill Rowe`s groundout to first drove in the final run of the inning.

Washington State got a run back in the bottom of the second when, for the second straight day, the Cougars` Jared Prince led off the second inning with a home run. WSU went on to load the bases, but Nickerson struck out Greg Lagried looking and got Ryan Krauser to fly out to center to end the inning with the Beavers still ahead 3-1.

OSU bumped the lead back to 4-1 in the top of the third as Wallace led off with a single up the middle, then scored when Cole Gillespie doubled to the leftfield foul pole. WSU was back within 4-2 when Travis Coulter and Jay Miller started the bottom of the third with singles to put runners at the corners, then Prince drove a sacrifice fly to right.

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