Beavers Get A Win On Opening Day
February 13, 2004 | Baseball
Feb. 13, 2004
SURPRISE, Ariz. - Jake Postlewait pitched one-run ball over five innings and Andy Jenkins had an inside-the-park home run as Oregon State opened its baseball season by beating Utah 8-6 on Friday in the Coca-Cola Classic at Surprise Stadium. Mike Lissman was 3-for-3 and Jacoby Ellsbury stole three bases for OSU, which raised its all-time record on Opening Day to 66-29.
The Beavers (1-0 overall) continue the tournament against Gonzaga on Saturday at 2 p.m. PST, then conclude it against Cal State-Northridge on Sunday at 8 a.m. PST. Sunday's game can be heard on www.osubeavers.com.
Against Utah (0-1), the Beavers built leads of 5-1 and 8-4 only to see Utah rally twice and close within one or two runs. Oregon State used nine first-year players, including six freshmen.
"It was fun to see the freshmen come in and play," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "We used three freshmen (Jonah Nickerson, Jake McCormick and Dallas Buck to pitch the last four innings and they got the job done. You'll take a win right out of the chute any time, and Utah is a very good club. We played pretty well."
Postlewait had a career-high eight strikeouts, topping that five that he'd posted several times during his sophomore and junior seasons. The senior lefthander allowed three hits and one walk.
"Jake Postlewait was lights-out for the first time out there this season," Casey said.
Utah didn't manage a hit until there were two out in the fourth inning, when Michael Westfall blooped a single into short right-centerfield. The Utes didn't score until the fifth, when T.J. Floyd doubled just inside the leftfield line with one out and Tyler Kay's two-out single up the middle brought him home.
OSU opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning on the strength of two junior college transfers against Utah sophomore lefthander Jason Price. Third baseman Shea McFeely doubled down the leftfield line; first baseman Andy Jenkins then looped a line drive in front of diving centerfielder Matt Ciamarella.
Chiamarella tried for a diving catch and missed, with the ball going all the way to the wall and Jenkins making it all the way home. It was the Beavers' first inside-the-park home run in almost four years; the last had been hit by Drew Hedges against Concordia on April 18, 2000 in Corvallis.
Oregon State increased its lead to 5-1 without a hit in the sixth, as a trio of Utah pitchers issued six walks in the inning. The Utes came back with three runs (two earned) against Nickerson in the bottom of the inning, though, to make it 5-4.
McFeely's sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh got one run back, though, and in the eighth inning a two-base error on a flyball hit by Aaron Mathews and a sacrifice fly by Chris Campos helped OSU boost the lead back to 8-4.
McCormick pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings before Dallas Buck got the final out of the eighth. Buck retired the side in the ninth to earn the save but did give up a two-out, two-run homer to Ciaramella.
Lissman, a freshman, was the only Beaver with more than one hit. Jacoby Ellsbury stole three bases for OSU, the first Beaver to steal three bases in a game since Kerisi Reynolds did it at Cal State-Northridge on Feb. 4, 2001.
OREGON STATE 8, UTAH 6
Oregon State 000 203 120 - 8 7 2 Utah 000 013 002 - 6 10 1Postlewait, Nickerson (6), McCormick (7), Buck (8) and Richie. Price, McCord (6), Florence (6), Buck (6), Westmoreland (9) and Schlieman, Eastman (6). W-Postlewait (1-0). L-Price (0-1). Sv-Buck (1). 2B-McFeely (OSU), Wilson (UU), Floyd (UU). HR-Jenkins (OSU), Khoury (UU), Ciaramella (UU).
HITS: Oregon State 7 (Ellsbury 1x4, McFeely 1x4, Jenkins 1x3, Lissman 3x3, Schroeder (1x4), Utah 10 (Pena 1x4, Khoury 1x5, Ciaramella 1x4, Westfall 2x5, Olson 1x4, Wilson 2x4, Floyd 1x4, Kay 1x3). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 7 (Mathews 1, Campos 1, McFeely 1, Jenkins 2, Lissman 1, Richie 1), Utah 5 (Khoury 1, Ciaramella 2, Wilson 1, Kay 1).
Oregon State 8 (1-0) Utah 6 (0-1)Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Aaron Mathews cf........... 3 0 0 1 Jared Pena 2b.............. 4 0 1 0 Tyler Graham dh............ 3 0 0 0 Ryan Khoury ss............. 5 2 1 1 Chris Campos ph........... 0 0 0 1 Matt Ciaramella cf......... 4 1 1 2 Jacoby Ellsbury rf......... 4 2 1 0 Michael Westfall Jr. 1b.... 5 1 2 0 Tony Calderon ss........... 4 1 0 0 Tyson Olson lf............. 4 1 1 0 Shea McFeely 3b............ 4 1 1 1 Cort Wilson 3b............. 4 0 2 1 Andy Jenkins 1b............ 3 2 1 2 T.J. Floyd rf.............. 4 1 1 0 Mike Lissman lf............ 3 0 3 1 Nate Schlieman c........... 2 0 0 0 Bryan Stone lf............ 0 0 0 0 Trevor Eastman c.......... 2 0 0 0 Paul Richie c.............. 2 1 0 1 Tyler Kay dh............... 3 0 1 1 Chad Schroeder 2b.......... 2 0 1 0 Clayne Garrett ph......... 1 0 0 0 Mike Hass ph.............. 1 0 0 0 Jason Price p.............. 0 0 0 0 Chris Kunda 2b............ 1 1 0 0 Shad McCord p............. 0 0 0 0 Jake Postlewait p.......... 0 0 0 0 Ryan Florence p........... 0 0 0 0 Jonah Nickerson p......... 0 0 0 0 Ben Buck p................ 0 0 0 0 Jake McCormick p.......... 0 0 0 0 Clay Westmoreland p....... 0 0 0 0 Dallas Buck p............. 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 30 8 7 7 Totals..................... 38 6 10 5
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Oregon State........ 000 203 120 - 8 7 2 Utah................ 000 013 002 - 6 10 1 -------------------------------------------
E - Jenkins 2; Ciaramella. DP - Utah 2. LOB - Oregon St. 7; Utah 7. 2B - McFeely; Wilson; Floyd. HR - Jenkins; Khoury; Ciaramella. HBP - Jenkins; Richie; Pena. SH - Graham. SF - Campos; McFeely. SB - Ellsbury 3; Calderon; Olson; Wilson. CS - Olson.
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Jake Postlewait W,1-0..... 5.0 3 1 1 1 8 Jonah Nickerson ........... 1.0 3 3 2 0 2 Jake McCormick ............ 1.2 2 0 0 0 1 Dallas Buck S,1........... 1.1 2 2 2 0 0
Utah IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Jason Price L,0-1......... 5.0 5 2 2 1 3 Shad McCord ............... 0.1 0 3 3 3 1 Ryan Florence ............. 0.1 0 0 0 3 1 Ben Buck .................. 2.1 2 3 1 0 2 Clay Westmoreland ......... 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
HBP - by Price (Jenkins); by McCormick (Pena); by Buck (Richie).
Umpires - HP: Paul Arreola 1B: John Woods 3B: Jeff Macias Start: 11:06 am Time: 3:04 Attendance: 118
