Beavers Win Streak Grows to 12 With 8-3 Win Over Gonzaga
Oregon State's winning streak extended to 12 Wednesday afternoon, with the Beavers taking down the Gonzaga Bulldogs 8-3 to move to 32-7 on the season.
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Gonzaga took the lead early, with a deep double to left field from Gage Mestas scoring Ty Yukumoto. A single from Hudson Shupe scored Mestas to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 with no outs, but three straight fly balls and an amazing play from Canon Reeder ended the first.
Oregon State threatened to get some runs on the board in the bottom of the first, putting two runners on base, but couldn't get anyone home, and went three and out in the 2nd and 3rd. In the top of the fourth Gonzaga extended their lead, when Dawson Santa couldn't make the play on a hard hit grounder from Ty Yukamoto, allowing Josh Hankins to score.
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That prompted a change of pitching for the Beavers, with Tanner Douglas coming into relieve Max Fraser and end the inning. The change in pitching coinciding with the Beaver bats finally finding some rhythm, as Gavin Turley opened the bottom of the fourth with a double, moved to third on an AJ Singer single, and then reached home after a Canon Reeder ground ball. With two outs, a Dawson Santana single scored Singer, cutting the Gonzaga lead to one run, 3-2.
In the bottom of the sixth Tyce Peterson snuck a ball right inside third base, and deep into left field for a double, a walk and a beaned batter loaded the bases with one out, but an Easton Talt pop up got Gonzaga their second out. Aiva Arquette came to the plate and also hit a shallow pop up, but Gonzaga miscommunicated on the play allowing the ball to drop and scoring two runs for the Beavers, giving Oregon State a 4-3 lead.
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Gavin Turley followed up that action by blasting a breaking ball right into the right field scoreboard for three more runs and a 7-3 Beaver lead. Oregon State added one more in the bottom of the seventh with a Bryce Hubbard single scoring Tyce Peterson.
Gonzaga got a few baserunners over the rest of the game, but never put themselves in a great position to get any runs on the board. Oregon State shut out the Bulldogs over the final 5 innings for the 8-3 victory, with Tanner Douglas picking up his first win of the season. Douglas pitched for 2.1 innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 3.
Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for On SI, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.