Campos' Homer Keys OSU Victory
March 05, 2004 | Baseball
March 5, 2004
HONOLULU, Haw. - Chris Campos' three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning lifted Oregon State to a 3-2 win over The Citadel on Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the Hawai'i First Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium. OSU (10-3 overall) gained a measure of revenge with the win; the Bulldogs (4-6) had beaten the Beavers in the tourney opener with a three-run rally in the ninth inning.
The victory sends Oregon State into Saturday's tournament championship game against the winner of Friday's second semifinal between host Hawai'i and Chicago State. If Hawai'i wins, the game will be at 8:35 p.m. PST; if Chicago State wins, the game will be at 4 p.m. PST. The game can be heard on www.osubeavers.com.
After the Beavers' Jake Postlewait and the Bulldogs' Jonathan Ellis locked up in a pitcher's dual for the first six innings, Campos was the first hitter faced by The Citadel reliever Shannon Sprouse. Campos lofted the righthander's one-ball, no-strike fastball over the wall just to the right of the scoreboard in right-centerfield for his second homer of the year.
"It was right down the plate," Campos said. "I knew I got a hold of it pretty good, but I wasn't sure if it would go out or not. It feels good to come back and beat this team after we'd lost a heartbreaker the last time."
OSU had to hang on in the final two innings as Dallas Buck earned his fifth save of the season, tying the freshman for third place on the school's all-time list of single-season leaders.
Kevin Gunderson hit a batter with one out in the eighth and Buck then walked the next two batters to load the bases before getting Andy Phillips to hit a bouncer to shortstop Tony Calderon. His toss to second was in time to retire the sliding Chris Ard; Ard slid into second baseman Chris Kunda and the resulting interference call put Phillips out to complete an inning-ending double play.
Buck struck out the first two hitters in the ninth, then issued a walk and a wild pitch to put the tying run in scoring position but induced a groundout from Matt Matulia to end the ballgame.
"It was great for Dallas to come back like that," OSU head coach Pat Casey said of Buck, who had taken the loss in Tuesday's game against the Bulldogs. "Gundy (Gunderson) had been pitching well but the situation called for us to get the other guy in the game, but now we can bring him back to pitch on Saturday."
Gunderson improved his record to 4-0 with one inning of work, with all of the freshman lefthander's wins coming in relief.
Postlewait gave up one run on a pair of hits in the first inning, then settled in to blank the Bulldogs for the next four innings before Chip Cannon homered to centerfield with one out in the sixth. In 6 1/3 innings, the senior lefthander allowed two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three, pitching more efficiently than he had while winning his last two starts.
"I had a good day," Postlewait said. "I pitched fine, everything was working for me and I was throwing hard."
Ellis, a junior righthander, went 7 1/3 innings and also allowed two runs on five hits, walking three and striking out nine.
"That makes it 10 times more fun," Postlewait said of trading zeroes with an opposing pitcher. "When you're facing a good competitor, it makes it a lot more fun. Blowouts are fun, but it's different when you're pitching."
Added Casey: "That's a real good pitcher. We didn't make adjustments, but the guys stayed with it and did it at the end."
Jacoby Ellsbury was the only Beaver with more than one hit, going 2-for-5, and Mike Lissman doubled for the Beavers. Each team managed just six hits on the afternoon.
OSU will be trying for its first championship in Hawai'i's tournament, which has been going since 1975; the Beavers' previous appearances were in 1994 and 1996. Oregon State is off to its best 13-game start since 1994, when the Beavers also won 10 of their first 13 games.
OREGON STATE 3, THE CITADEL 2
Oregon State 000 000 030 - 3 6 1 The Citadel 100 001 000 - 2 6 0Postlewait, Gunderson (7), Buck (8) and Richie. Ellis, Sprouse (8) and Coker. W-Gunderson (4-0). L-Sprouse (1-1). Sv-Buck (5). 2B-Lissman (OSU), Aughey (TC). HR-Campos (OSU), Cannon (TC).
HITS: Oregon State 6 (Ellsbury 2x5, Lissman 1x4, Campos 1x3, McFeely 1x3, Kunda 1x3), The Citadel 6 (Aughey 2x2, Stackley 1x4, Cannon 1x3, Phillips 1x4, Covington 1x4). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 3 (Campos 3), The Citadel 2 (Stackley 1, Cannon 1).
Oregon State 3 (10-3) The Citadel 2 (4-6)Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Jacoby Ellsbury rf......... 5 1 2 0 Jon Aughey 2b.............. 2 1 2 0 Mike Lissman lf............ 4 1 1 0 Matt Matulia ss............ 5 0 0 0 Chris Campos dh............ 3 1 1 3 Josh Stackley rf........... 4 0 1 1 Shea McFeely 3b............ 3 0 1 0 Chip Cannon 1b............. 3 1 1 1 Chad Schroeder 3b......... 0 0 0 0 Blaine Richardson dh....... 3 0 0 0 Andy Jenkins 1b............ 3 0 0 0 Mark Egleton ph........... 0 0 0 0 Mike Hass ph.............. 0 0 0 0 Chris Altman ph........... 0 0 0 0 Tyler Graham pr........... 0 0 0 0 Chris Eaves pr............ 0 0 0 0 Cole Gillespie 1b......... 0 0 0 0 Chris Ard 3b............... 2 0 0 0 Aaron Mathews cf........... 2 0 0 0 Andy Phillips lf........... 4 0 1 0 Tony Calderon ss........... 3 0 0 0 Will Coker c............... 2 0 0 0 Paul Richie c.............. 3 0 0 0 Zach Brown ph............. 1 0 0 0 Chris Kunda 2b............. 3 0 1 0 Matt Covinton cf........... 4 0 1 0 Jake Postlewait p.......... 0 0 0 0 Jonathan Ellis p........... 0 0 0 0 Kevin Gunderson p......... 0 0 0 0 Shannon Sprouse p......... 0 0 0 0 Dallas Buck p............. 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 29 3 6 3 Totals..................... 30 2 6 2
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Oregon State........ 000 000 030 - 3 6 1 The Citadel......... 100 001 000 - 2 6 0 -------------------------------------------
E - Kunda. DP - Oregon St. 1; The Citadel 3. LOB - Oregon St. 9; The Citadel 9. 2B - Lissman; Aughey. HR - Campos; Cannon. HBP - McFeely; Mathews; Richie; Kunda; Cannon. SH - Aughey; Coker. SB - Stackley. CS - Ellsbury, Covington.
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Jake Postlewait ........... 6.1 5 2 2 2 3 Kevin Gunderson W,4-0..... 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 Dallas Buck S,5........... 1.2 0 0 0 3 2
The Citadel IP H R ER BB SO ----------------------------------------------- Jonathan Ellis ............ 7.1 5 2 2 3 9 Shannon Sprouse L,1-1..... 1.2 1 1 1 3 0
WP - Buck; Sprouse. HBP - by Ellis (Mathews); by Ellis (Richie); by Sprouse (McFeely); by Gunderson (Cannon); by Sprouse (Kunda). BK - Sprouse.
Umpires - HP: Nelson Valdez 1B: Gary Montalbo 3B: Don Greman Start: 2:04 pm Time: 2:52 Attendance: 279
