Beavers Slog Past Portland, 13-6
March 08, 2003 | Baseball
March 8, 2003
PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon State used a nine-run third inning to beat Portland 13-6 on Saturday afternoon in non-league baseball at soggy Pilot Stadium. OSU (8-7 overall) and Portland (3-9) will try to play again Sunday at 1 p.m. at Portland.
A gathering of 103 hardy fans sat through a damp, foggy afternoon and periodic showers to watch the state's Division I teams meet for the first time this season after having been rained out twice in the last week.
"At this point, to get a game in and then to be able to win it was a plus," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. Oregon State was looking at going nine days without a game if the Beavers and Pilots were unable to beat the weather for at least one game this weekend.
"We needed to play," OSU leftfielder Seth Pietsch said. "It didn't matter what the conditions were or who it was against, you've got to play. You've got to get as many games in as you can, or you lose focus.
"It was a good thing they had their field tarped. The infield was good enough to play; the outfield was pretty wet. But it didn't matter - they had to play play on the same field. You just couldn't get discouraged if you made an error; it was tough to play clean baseball out there today."
The Beavers took control in the third inning, their highest-scoring inning of the year, to turn a 2-1 deficit into an 11-2 lead. The Beavers used eight hits, a walk and a hit batter; the stage was set when Kerisi Reynolds led off the inning with a single and Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a double.
Pietsch had a pair of hits in the inning, driving in the first and last runs of the frame. He grounded a single through the left side to drive in Reynolds with the tying run; after the Beavers batted around, Pietsch tripled off the centerfield wall to drive in a pair of runs. Pietsch's triple was the ninth of his career, moving him into a tie for third place on OSU's list of all-time leaders.
Scott Nelson and Chris Kunda both had two-run singles in the inning, while Tony Calderon and Ellsbury also added run-scoring singles. Calderon extended his hitting streak to nine games, while Pietsch was 3-for-5 with three runs batted in, Ellsbury was 3-for-4 with a double, Nelson was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Reynolds was 2-for-4.
Freshman righthander Kurt Steele relieved OSU starter Jared Sanders with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning. Steele pitched the next four innings to earn his first career win, allowing three runs on five hits, walking none and striking out three.
The Pilots didn't score off of Steele until the bottom of the eighth inning, when they picked up three runs to close within 12-6. Another freshman righty, Andy Baldwin, got the Beavers out of the inning and then pitched a scoreless ninth to nail down the game.
"Kurt came in and threw well," Casey said. "Right now, it seems like nothing is easy for us; there are some areas we need to show more consistency, where we need to get better. We had a good lead, but I felt like we could do a better job of finishing the game ... but, again, at one point we had six freshmen on the field (Steele, catcher Billy Munich, second baseman Kunda, shortstop Tyler Graham, centerfielder Ellsbury and designated hitter Nelson), and those guys did some good things for us and they're going to get better with experience."
OREGON STATE 13, PORTLAND 6
Oregon State 019 110 001 - 13 14 2 Portland 110 100 030 - 6 13 3Sanders, Steele (4), Ekstrom (8), Baldwin (8) and Richie, Munich (6), McMullen (8). Renyer, Clausen (3), Jones (4), Ball (6) and Griffin. W- L- Sv- 2B-Ellsbury (OSU), Little (UP), Casto (UP), Pierce (UP). 3B-Pietsch (OSU).
HITS: Oregon State 14 (Reynolds 2x4, Ellsbury 3x4, Pietsch 3x5, Calderon 1x3, Nelson 2x3, Richie 1x3, Kunda 1x3), Portland 13 (Little 2x3, Steffens 1x5, Hahn 2x4, Casto 3x5, Pierce 1x5, Kosach 2x3, Griffin 2x3). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 11 (Ellsbury 1, Pietsch 3, Calderon 2, Nelson 3, Kunda 2), Portland 6 (Little 3, Steffens 1, Casto 1, Kosach 1).
Oregon State 13 (8-7) Portland 6 (3-9)Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Kerisi Reynolds rf......... 4 3 2 0 Gustaf Little 2b........... 3 1 2 3 Jacoby Ellsbury cf......... 4 2 3 1 Rob Steffens 3b............ 5 0 1 1 Seth Pietsch lf............ 5 2 3 3 Trevor Hahn ss/p........... 4 1 2 0 Tony Calderon 3b........... 3 1 1 2 Kory Casto rf.............. 5 0 3 1 Andy Jarvis 1b............. 2 2 0 0 Pat Geraghty 1b............ 5 0 0 0 Scott Nelson dh............ 3 2 2 3 Justin Pierce lf........... 5 1 1 0 Chris Biles ph............ 1 0 0 0 Nik Kosach dh.............. 3 2 2 1 Paul Richie c.............. 3 0 1 0 Andrew Wrisley ss......... 1 0 0 0 Billy Munich c............ 1 0 1 0 Brock Griffin c............ 3 1 2 0 Kane TenPas pr............ 0 0 0 0 Ryan Heil cf............... 4 0 0 0 Ian McMullen c............ 0 0 0 0 Andrew Renyer p............ 0 0 0 0 Chris Kunda 2b............. 3 1 1 2 Kevin Clause p............ 0 0 0 0 Tyler Graham ss............ 5 0 0 0 Joe Jones p............... 0 0 0 0 Jared Sanders p............ 0 0 0 0 Stephen Ball p............ 0 0 0 0 Kurt Steele p............. 0 0 0 0 Mike Ekstrom p............ 0 0 0 0 Andy Baldwin p............ 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 34 13 14 11 Totals..................... 38 6 13 6
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Oregon State........ 019 110 001 - 13 14 2 Portland............ 110 100 030 - 6 13 3 -------------------------------------------
E - Pietsch; Calderon; Little; Geraghty; Ball. DP - Oregon St. 1; Portland 4. LOB - Oregon St. 10; Portland 11. 2B - Ellsbury; Little; Casto; Pierce. 3B - Pietsch. HBP - Reynolds 2; Calderon 2; Little. SH - Ellsbury; Richie; Griffin. SF - Calderon. SB - Ellsbury; Pietsch. CS - Ellsbury.
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jared Sanders ............. 3.1 6 3 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 15 19 Kurt Steele W,1-0......... 4.0 5 3 3 0 3 1 0 1 0 17 18 Mike Ekstrom .............. 0.1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 Andy Baldwin .............. 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4
Portland IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF --------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Renyer L,2-2....... 2.1 8 8 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 13 17 Kevin Clause .............. 1.2 3 3 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 8 10 Joe Jones ................. 1.0 1 1 0 4 1 0 0 1 0 3 8 Stephen Ball .............. 3.0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 8 10 Trevor Hahn ............... 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 5
WP - Steele. HB - Steele; Hahn; Clausen; Jones; Ball. PB - Richie; Griffin 2.
Strikeouts - Richie; Steffens 2; Casto; Pierce; Griffin; Heil. Walks - Ellsbury; Pietsch; Jarvis 4; Nelson; Kunda 2; Little; Hahn; Kosach; Griffin.
Umpires - HP: Kendall Snyder 1B: Dave Perez 3B: Matt Head Start: 2:09 pm Time: 3:25 Attendance: 103
Jones faced 1 batter in the 6th.
