Oregon State
14-5, 3-0
California
11-7, 0-3
It's A Sweep: Beavers Finish Off Bears In Series Finale
March 18, 2012 | Baseball
March 18, 2012
BERKELEY, Calif. - The Oregon State baseball team got some rain, wind, cold and sun on its weekend trip to Berkeley.
The Beavers proved that no matter the weather conditions at Cal's Evans Diamond, they would not be denied.
Kavin Keyes had four hits and Michael Conforto drove in six on a 3-for-5 afternoon as the 25th-ranked Beavers finished off a series sweep of California with a 13-5 win over the Golden Bears on Sunday.
Oregon State ended the weekend with 26 runs scored and 35 hits while limiting California to just eight runs and 22 hits. The Beavers improved to 14-5 on the year while the Golden Bears dropped to 11-7.
Conforto singled home two in both the second and third innings then added a two-run double in the sixth to give the Beavers a 13-4 lead. He became the first Beaver with six RBI in a game since Drew George in 2008 at San Diego State.
Conforto, a freshman who attended Redmond High School in Washington, finished the weekend with seven RBI and has 16 over his last seven games. He has driven in at least two in six of those seven games.
Keyes, meanwhile, set a career-high with his four-hit day and it marked his third multiple-hit game of the season. All four hits were singles, coming in the second, third, sixth and seventh innings and he ended the game with three runs scored.
Tyler Smith also had three hits as the Beavers collected 17 as a team, setting a season-high. Ryan Barnes and Dylan Davis each had two hits for OSU, which saw seven of its nine starts tally at least one.
The Beavers upped their team batting average eight points, from .285 to .293, in the win.
Jace Fry, additionally, picked up his first career win. The left-hander threw 92 pitches in his second career start. He allowed four runs - three earned - with seven hits and three walks. He struck out four and is 1-0 this season.
The Beavers had gone seven years since scoring double figures against the Golden Bears. That stretch was a target early as the club scored one in the first, four in the second - when sending 10 to the plate - and three in the third for an 8-3 advantage. They later scored four in the six to blow the game open.
The Beavers seemed destined to take a chunk out of the record books against California in terms of runs scored, but fell two shy of the program-record 15 scored against the Golden Bears in both 1997 and 2004. OSU failed to score a run in the final three innings after scoring in five of the first six.
Kyle Porter started and took the loss for California, dropping to 2-1 this season. The lefty allowed five hits and five runs in two innings of work.
Oregon State returns home next weekend when hosting Arizona at Goss Stadium. The teams open the series Friday at 5:35 p.m. PT.
For more information on the Oregon State baseball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/Beaver_Baseball or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateBaseball.
OSU Notes: The Beavers' last sweep at Cal was in 2006 ... OSU last started the league season 3-0 when sweeping California at Goss Stadium ... The Beavers have won seven of the last nine series between the clubs and four of five at Evans Diamond ... The three-game series sweep was the second all-time for the Beavers in Berkeley ... The Beavers improved to 31-39 all-time against Cal and 15-24 in Berkeley ... Oregon State improved to 8-3 in games played in California this season ... Ryan Dunn saw his season-long hit streak snapped at 12 games ... He was 18-for-42 during it.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fry, Jace (1-0)
L: Kyle Porter (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Smith, Tyler 1 ; Conforto, Michael 1 ; Barnes, Ryan 1
RBI: Gordon, Max 2 ; Smith, Tyler 1 ; Conforto, Michael 6 ; Davis, Dylan 1 ; Rodriguez, Jake 1 ; Tommasini, John 1
SH: Gordon, Max 2 ; Rodriguez, Jake 1
SF: Rodriguez, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gordon, Max 3 ; Smith, Tyler 3 ; Barnes, Ryan 2 ; Keyes, Kavin 3 ; Tommasini, John 2
HBP: Gordon, Max 1
Batting:
HR: Chad Bunting 1
RBI: Mike Reuvekamp 1 ; Mitch Delfino 1 ; Chad Bunting 2 ; Vince Bruno 1
SH: Mike Reuvekamp 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tony Renda 1 ; Mitch Delfino 1 ; Devon Rodriguez 1 ; Chad Bunting 2
HBP: Chadd Krist 1
