Beavers Off To Best Baseball Start In 42 Years
February 22, 2004 | Baseball
Feb. 22, 2004
ARLINGTON, Tex. - Oregon State is off to its best baseball start in 42 years after beating Southwest Missouri State 5-4 Sunday morning in their final game at the Texas-Arlington Invitational at Clay Gould Ballpark. The Beavers (6-0 overall) have the school's best season-opening mark since the 1962 team won its first 18 games; OSU finished as the only unbeaten team at the UTA tournament.
OSU next goes to the Riverside Baseball Invitational, where the Beavers will play host California-Riverside on Friday at 3 p.m., Sacramento State on Saturday at 12 noon and Washington on Sunday at 11 a.m. The Beavers' current six-game winnin streak is OSU's longest since a six-gamer near the middle of the 2001 season.
Against Southwest Missouri State (1-2), which advanced to the 2003 College World Series, the Beavers had to hold off a Bear rally that was largely of OSU's before securing the win. A hit batter, two Oregon State errors and two bases-loaded walks got SMS within one run against OSU closer Dallas Buck before he got a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.
"We didn't feel we played well but we did the things we had to to win," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "Dallas wasn't as sharp as he's been and we didn't help him out with a couple of errors behind him, but it was good to be able to leave him out there and see him make the pitches we had to to get the job done.
"Coming home with three wins is always a positive, though. And we know we've got things to do to become better as a ballclub."
The Beavers committed four errors against the Bears and left 15 runners on base. But OSU also turned three double plays to get out of trouble in what was a one- or two-run game from the start. OSU had eight double plays during the weekend, and Oregon State's team earned run average for the three wins in Texas was 1.00 to lower the Beavers' season ERA to 2.17.
Each team picked up a single run in the first inning, then the Beavers went in front for good in the second. SMS righthander John Findley gave up an infield single and his fourth and fifth walks of the game to load the bases with two out, then reliever Chris Krawczyk saw Chris Campos smack his first pitch through the left side for a two-run single that put OSU up 3-1.
Campos was 3-for-3 on the day and also walked twice. The junior outfielder was 7-for-9 in the tournament with one triple, one home run, six runs batted in, three walks, was hit by pitch once and scored three runs; he reached base in his last 10 plate appearances of the weekend.
An unearned run got the Bears within 3-2 in the bottom of the third inning, but OSU answered in the top of the fourth after Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a triple. With one out, Shea McFeely chopped the ball back to the mound; the Bears got the out and second base but McFeely hustled up the line to avoid the double play and allow Ellsbury to score.
OSU righthander Andy Baldwin went 6 1/3 innings for his second straight start, leaving the game with one out and runners at second and third in the seventh inning. Lefty Kyle Asleton came in and got Jake Manning to ground into a double play to end the inning with Oregon State still up two runs.
After Asleton allowed a walk and a groundball single to start the eighth, Buck came on and retired the No. 2 through No. 4 hitters in the Bears' lineup to keep the lead at two runs. OSU added an unearned run in the top of the ninth, and that proved crucial when SMS put together its last-inning rally.
It was Buck's third save in his four appearances this season, tying him with many players for eighth place on Oregon State's list of all-time single-season leaders. Baldwin got the win, improving to 2-0 in 2004, and Paul Richie was 2-for-5 with a double for Oregon State.
OREGON STATE 5, SOUTHWEST MISSOURI STATE 4
Oregon State 120 100 001 - 5 11 4 S.W. Missouri State 101 000 002 - 4 6 4
Baldwin, Asleton (7), Buck (8) and Richie. Findley, Krawczyk (2), Gray (8) and Kindle. W-Baldwin (2-0). L-Findley (0-1). Sv-Buck (3). 2B-Nelson (OSU), Richie (OSU). 3B-Ellsbury (OSU).
HITS: Oregon State 11 (Ellsbury 1x5, Kunda 1x4, Campos 3x3, McFeely 1x4, Mathews 1x4, Nelson 1x4, Richie 2x5, Schroeder 1x3), Southwest Missouri State 6 (McConnell 1x2, Hilgendorf 1x5, Kindle 1x3, Neyra 1x4, Manning 2x4). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 4 (Campos 2, McFeely 2), Southwest Missouri State 4 (McConnell 1, Colvin 1, Hilgendorf 1, Gotcher 1).
Oregon State 5 (6-0) S.W. Missouri State 4 (1-2)Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Jacoby Ellsbury lf......... 5 3 1 0 Kirk McConnell lf.......... 2 1 1 1 Chris Kunda 2b............. 4 0 1 0 Brooks Colvin 3b........... 5 0 0 1 Chris Campos dh............ 3 0 3 2 Jacob Hilgendorf cf........ 5 0 1 1 Cole Gillespie pr......... 0 0 0 0 Matt Weglarz 1b............ 4 0 0 0 Shea McFeely 3b............ 4 0 1 2 Jud Kindle c............... 3 1 1 0 Mike Hass rf............... 5 0 0 0 Daniel Webb dh............. 2 0 0 0 Aaron Mathews cf........... 4 1 1 0 Justin DePriest ph/dh..... 2 0 0 0 Scott Nelson 1b............ 4 0 1 0 Jeremy Neyra ss............ 4 1 1 0 Tyler Graham pr........... 0 0 0 0 Jake Manning rf............ 4 1 2 0 Andy Jenkins 1b........... 0 0 0 0 Toby Gardenhire 2b......... 1 0 0 0 Paul Richie c.............. 5 0 2 0 Ryan Gotcher ph........... 0 0 0 1 Chad Schroeder ss.......... 3 1 1 0 Chris Taylor pr........... 0 0 0 0 Mitch Canham ph........... 1 0 0 0 John Findley p............. 0 0 0 0 Tony Calderon ss.......... 0 0 0 0 Chris Krawczyk p.......... 0 0 0 0 Andy Baldwin p............. 0 0 0 0 Jeff Gray p............... 0 0 0 0 Kyle Asleton p............ 0 0 0 0 Dallas Buck p............. 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 38 5 11 4 Totals..................... 32 4 6 4
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Oregon State........ 120 100 001 - 5 11 4 S.W. Missouri State. 101 000 002 - 4 6 4 -------------------------------------------
E - McFeely; Jenkins; Schroeder; Calderon; Colvin; Gardenhire; Findley; Gray. DP - Oregon St. 3. LOB - Oregon St. 15; S.W. Mo. St. 8. 2B - Nelson; Richie. 3B - Ellsbury. HBP - Calderon; Kindle. SH - Jenkins; McConnell; Gardenhire. SF - McFeely.
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Andy Baldwin W,2-0........ 6.1 5 2 1 1 3 Kyle Asleton .............. 0.2 1 0 0 1 0 Dallas Buck S,3........... 2.0 0 2 0 2 2
S.W. Missouri State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ John Findley L,0-1........ 1.1 1 3 2 5 0 Chris Krawczyk ............ 5.2 7 1 1 1 1 Jeff Gray ................. 2.0 3 1 0 0 2
HBP - by Gray (Calderon); by Buck (Kindle).
Umpires - HP: Jon Wolfe 1B: Dale Luker 3B: Wes Hamilton Start: 10:04 am Time: 3:05 Attendance: 247
Asleton faced 2 batters in the 8th.
