Pac-10 Baseball: Oregon State Clinches Series Win at UCLA

OSU banged out 12 hits on Saturday, coming on the heels of 12 hits in Friday night’s 10-7 victory over the Bruins.

OSU shortstop Darwin Barney Photo: OSU Athletics

LOS ANGELES - Oregon State’s Darwin Barney was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and four runs batted in as the 23rd-ranked Beavers beat UCLA 13-5 in Pacific-10 baseball Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Joe Paterson pitched 7 1/3 innings to earn the win for OSU (38-16 overall, 10-13 Pacific-10), which clinched the weekend series win over the Bruins and strengthened the Beavers’ case for a third straight postseason berth.

On Saturday, Barney’s two-run homer in the top of the third inning tied the game 2-2 and started a string of five straight innings in which the Beavers scored, building a 12-5 lead before a crowd of 1,278 that was the largest this season at the UCLA diamond.

“I told our guys after the game that I felt they were playing with the same kind of confidence they were playing with most of the season,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “We haven’t changed anything; the mental part of the game is such a big factor. Our guys are playing with some intensity and some passion and some purpose, and it’s good to see that.”

OSU banged out 12 hits on Saturday, coming on the heels of 12 hits in Friday night’s 10-7 victory over the Bruins.

Chris Hopkins was 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of RBIs, Joey Wong was 2-for-4 and Jason Ogata had a two-run homer for the Beavers.

“It makes it easy to pitch,” Paterson said of the offensive support. “It’s a lot more fun and you’re a lot more confident out there ... they’re hitting the ball right now and I just want them to keep going and have the season go longer.”

Paterson improved his record to 7-6 and earned his first win of the Pac-10 season as he combined with reliever Mark Grbavac to limit the Bruins to nine hits on the day.

In his 7 1/3 innings, Paterson allowed the five UCLA runs on three hits and three walks while striking out three.

“I’ve been waiting for that one for a while,” Paterson said. “I thought that was the best that I’ve thrown inside all year ... I was comfortable and it was fun.”

OSU took the lead for good at 5-2 on a bizarre play in the top of the fourth inning, as three runners scored on a sacrifice bunt by Lonnie Lechelt – including Lechelt.

Jordan Lennerton had led off the inning with a single and Erik Ammon walked to put runners at first and second.

Lechelt bunted to the third-base side of the mound and UCLA starter Tim Murphy pounced on it but threw it low and past first baseman Tim Stewart; as the ball rolled down the fence beyond OSU’s first-base dugout, both Lennerton and Ammon scored.

Rightfielder Gabe Cohen finally got to the ball as Lechelt was headed for third base and Cohen winged it in that direction, but the bag wasn’t being covered by a Bruin and Lechelt trotted home.

OSU tacked on another run in the inning as Wong bounced an infield single up the middle and scored on Barney’s two-out double to right-centerfield to make it 6-2.

Oregon State tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth as walks to Ammon, Wong and Braden Wells loaded the bases with two out.

Hopkins then smacked a two-run single up the middle and Barney poked a run-scoring single through the right side to make it 9-2.

In the top of the sixth inning, Lennerton walked with one out and eventually scored on Wong’s two-out single up the middle for a 10-2 lead.

UCLA got back within 10-5 in the bottom of the sixth on Stewart’s two-out, three-run homer to leftfield.

The Beavers got two of those runs back in the top of the seventh when Hopkins was hit by a pitch and the scored on Ogata’s fourth homer of the season, a shot over the leftfield fence that made it 12-5.

Oregon State had tied the game 2-2 on Barney’s two-run homer in the top of the third inning.

Hopkins singled with one out, then Barney drove a one-ball, no-strike pitch from Murphy into the trees beyond the leftfield fence for his third homer of the season.

UCLA went in front 2-0 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Cody Decker walked to start the inning, then with two out Stewart doubled off the rightfield fence to drive in Decker; Brady Dolan followed with a single up the middle to score Stewart and make it 2-0.

The Beavers and Bruins (29-26, 13-10) wrap up the regular season Sunday at noon.

The game can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area.

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

The 64-team field for the NCAA Regionals will be announced Monday at 9:30 a.m. on ESPN.

The 16 sites for the NCAA Regionals will be announced Sunday.

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