Oregon State Baseball Falls 6-4 to Saint Mary's in Corvallis Regional
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Oregon State lost the first game in the Corvallis Regional 6-4 to Saint Mary's in front of their home crowd at Goss Stadium. It was the first NCAA Tournament win for Saint Mary's baseball in program history.
It's a worrying loss for the Beavs, who now must win out if they are to make a Super Regionals. Eric Segura was given the nod by coach Mitch Canham to start on the mound Friday afternoon, and he looked unsettled from the jump giving up a leadoff single to Gaels hitter Eddie Madrigal.
Segura would continue to struggle in the top half of the first inning, as Gaels hitter Ryan Pierce drove in a run on an RBI-single. Segura would then walk in a run and plunk a batter with the bases loaded to see Oregon State fall behind quickly 3-0. Mitch Canham decided to stop the bleeding and pulled Segura in favor of A.J. Hutcheson who would come into the game in relief and get the Beavers out of a treacherous situation.
The Beavs' bats were quiet to begin the Corvallis regional, as they were sat down in the bottom half of the first. Hutcheson would respond and calm some fans' nerves as he sat the Gaels lineup down 1-2-3 in the top half of the 2nd inning.
Gavin Turley got the offense started in the bottom of the third as he followed up an Aiva Arquette single with a home run to right center field that nearly smacked the video board at Goss. The Turley home run brought the Beavs back to within one, as they trailed 3-2 heading into the fourth inning.
Hutcheson continued to dominate on the mound, tossing another scoreless inning in the top of the fourth, but the Beavers bats were't able to capitalize as it remained a one-run game. Hutcheson, with maybe his most dominant performance of the season, continued to stymie the Gaels as he threw yet another scoreless inning in the top of the fifth. Hutcheson's day would be done in the top half of the sixth as RHP Laif Palmer entered to relieve Hutcheson. Palmer would get the Beavs out of the sixth inning unscathed and turn things over to the bottom half of the inning.
Wilson Weber singled with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but the Beavs would be unable to capitalize once more. Laif Palmer would return to the mound in the seventh but quickly ran into trouble, as he gave up a three-run bomb to Gaels DH Brian Duroff to make it 6-2 Gaels. Trent Caraway answered with a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh, and an Easton Talt triple with two outs in the bottom of the seventh brought Oregon State within two and Goss Stadium back to life. Gaels pitcher Dylan Delvecchio, who went 6.2 innings while striking out 10 Oregon State hitters on the afternoon would be pulled in the bottom of the seventh.
The eighth inning saw both teams go down in order 1-2-3. Beavers catcher Wilson Weber threw out a runner trying to steal in the top half of the ninth to turn things over to the bottom half of the inning with Goss Stadium holding its breath. The Beavs would go down quietly in the ninth, with the side striking out to end their first regional game in Corvallis.
With the loss, Oregon State's job now becomes a lot harder. The Beavs will play TCU, who dropped their first game to USC 13-1, tomorrow at Noon PT in an elimination game on ESPNU. It is expected that Dax Whitney will get the start on the bump for an Oregon State team that needs to rebound quickly.
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Kyle is a 2019 graduate of Southern Oregon University and currently does play-by-play for SOU football and men’s and women’s soccer. He hosts a daily sports show in southern Oregon on The Ace Sports Radio, 107.9 FM and 1300 AM. Kyle also does play-by-play for the Rogue Valley Royals hockey team and the North Medford High School Black Tornado for TableRockSports.net. Kyle lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife and a Dalmatian named Penny.