Washington Upsets No. 9 Oregon State, 6-2

On Friday, OSU left 14 runners on base, including nine in scoring position.

Photo: OSU Athletics

SEATTLE - The largest crowd ever to see a Pacific-10 baseball game watched ninth-ranked Oregon State fall to Washington 6-2 on Friday night at Safeco Field.

Of the gathering of 10,421 at the Seattle Mariners’ home ballpark, nearly half appeared to be wearing OSU’s orange and black.

On Friday, OSU left 14 runners on base, including nine in scoring position, and never led.

“We didn’t play very well and we didn’t deserve to win the ballgame,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “We didn’t do the things we needed to do, and usually when you come out anad play like that, you’re going to get beat.”

The previous record for attendance at a conference game in the Pac-10 had been 9,772 for a game between Arizona State and Arizona on May 10th, 1980 in Tucson.

Friday’s crowd was also the largest in OSU history for a regular season game, and the Beavers could look to the seats behind their first-base dugout and see thousands of Oregon State fans.

“It was great,” Casey said of the showing by Beaver Nation. “It’s too bad we didn’t give them a better effort, and that’s one of the things that bothers me a little. I thought we had a great crowd and a great following, and I think we can play better baseball than that.”

OSU starter Mike Stutes saw his record fall to 9-2 as he pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits and five walks while striking out five.

Reliever Daniel Turpen worked the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing a run on two hits and two walks while striking out one.

For the Beavers, Jason Ogata was 2-for-3 with a double and Jordan Lennerton was 2-for-5.

Down 5-1, Oregon State did bring the tying run to the plate in the top of the eighth inning.

Mike Lissman led off with a single and pinch-hitter Braden Wells drew a walk against UW reliever Tyler Cheney, but Cheney retired the next two hitters.

Brendan McKerney replaced Cheney and John Wallace then collected a pinch-hit single up the middle to score Canham and send Wells to third.

Darwin Barney came to the plate and lined a ball toward rightfield, but it was snared by Husky first baseman Curt Rindal to end the inning with Washington still ahead 5-2.

The Huskies tacked on their final run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Pinch-hitter Joey Lind walked to start the inning and pinch-runner Brian Pearl advanced to second and third on a pair of groundouts, then scored on Curt Rindal’s single to center.

Washington went up 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning and it could have been a much bigger lead. Danny Cox led off with a double to right and Michael Burgher walked, then Jake Rife singled up the middle to score Cox and both runners advanced when OSU centerfielder Chris Hopkins overran the ball.

Matt Hague walked to load the bases, and Ty Rasmussen blooped a ball over the mound just out of the reach of diving second baseman Joey Wong, but Wong recovered in time to throw to the plate and force out Burgher. Bradley Boyer then filed out to right to end the inning.

The Huskies made it 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning as Stutes hit Joey Dunn to start the inning and walked Cox with one out.

Burgher followed with a single up the middle to score Dunn from second, then e Rife singled to right-center to score Cox from second.

OSU got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth inning against Washington starter Jason Erickson. With one out, Mitch Canham and Ogata drew walks and Lennerton singled to load the bases.

Lissman’s groundout brought Canham home and moved the tying runs into scoring position, but Scott Santschi grounded out to Erickson to end the inning with OSU still down 3-1.

Washington pushed its lead to 5-1 with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Cox tripled with one out, then Burgher singled through the right side of a drawn-in infield. OSU brought in Turpen and Burgher stole second, then scored on Hague’s single through the left side.

The Beavers threatened in the top of the third inning, loading the bases on Hopkins’ one-out single and two-out walks to Canham and Ogata.

Lennerton then grounded a full-count pitch up the middle, but Washington shortstop Cox dove to his left, made the stop and threw Lennerton out at first end the inning with the score still 0-0.

The game began with the ballpark’s roof open, but it was closed during the sixth inning.

The Beavers (34-10 overall, 6-7 Pac-10) and Huskies (22-20, 7-6) continue their series Saturday at 2:00 PM and Sunday at 1:00 PM, with both those games at Husky Ballpark.

Both games 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 in the internet through Beaver Nation Online at www.osubeavers.com.

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