Baseball Sweeps Washington State
April 25, 1998
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State kept its share of first place in the Pacific-10 Northern Division baseball race Saturday afternoon by sweeping Washington State 12-2 and 7-4 in a doubleheader at Coleman Field. The 19th-ranked Beavers (30-11-1 overall, 13-6 Northern Division) got a seven-hitter from Andrew Checketts in the opener; in the second game, Matt Bailie singled home the tying and winning runs to key a four-run eighth inning.
OSU remains tied for first place with Washington. The Beavers and Washington State (22-19, 11-8) wrap up their weekend series Sunday with a single game at 1 p.m .at Coleman Field.
"We've got to play well on Sunday," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "We're playing a good team, and we've got to do that to give ourselves a chance to win. There aren't any secrets - both of us have to come out and play. We know the challenge, and guys have got to respond."
Saturday, in front of a crowd of 1,165, the Beavers bounced back after having suffered a pair of disheartening losses to the Cougars on Friday.
"I think we were dumbfounded with the way we played," Bailie said of Friday's 6-4 and 10-6 losses. "We haven't played like that all year ... the good thing about this team is, it can have a day like Friday and then come out and play to the form we've had over the past month."
The Beavers had to do that, because being swept had put their backs to the wall. That left a little more pressure on the shoulders of Checketts in the first game.
"Yeah - a lot of pressure," Checketts said. "I was aware of it. These two games were must-wins, and obviously Sunday is, too."
Having seen the Cougars hit eight balls out of Coleman Field on Friday was in the back of Checketts' mind, but he'd won at WSU earlier this season with the wind blowing out of Bailey Field.
"I got lucky today - we didn't have the wind blowing," Checketts said. "It was the luck of the draw."
Checketts improved to 10-1 this season with the win, walking one and striking out eight. He is now 23-7 in his OSU career, moving him into a tie with Jeff Otis for seventh place on the school's career wins list.
"If there's a Purple Heart for baseball, he deserves it," Casey said of Checketts. "Every time our backs are against the wall, he has the ball and he finds a way to give us a lift. The guys are confident when he's on the bump."
After stranding runners all of Friday, the Beavers exploded for seven runs in the fourth inning of the opener to hand Checketts a 7-0 lead to work with. That inning included a two-run single by Greg Conley to start the scoring, then a three-run homer by Rob Colley to finish the outburst.
The second game was a pitching battle between OSU's Brody Percell and WSU's Todd Meldahl. The Beavers scored first on a two-run single by Corrie Willkie in the bottom of the second inning, added a run-scoring single by Ben Bertrand in the bottom of the third, then clung to a narrow lead until the top of the seventh. That's when the Cougars' Scott Randall boomed a two-out, two-run triple off the fence in right-center to give his team a 4-3 lead.
Percell lasted into the eighth inning, then Mike Boire worked the Beavers out of a jam to keep the game at 4-3. Drew Hedges led off the bottom of the inning for OSU with a single to right; then Greg Conley sacrificed Hedges to second, and Conley himself was safe at first on an error on the play.
Ryan Lipe then moved the runners up by getting down a two-strike bunt for a sacrifice, and WSU brought righthander Reggie Rivard in to replace Meldahl, a lefty. With the righthanded hitting Bailie due up, OSU coach Pat Casey thought about pinch-hitting lefty Joe Gerber.
"We had a great opportunity with Joe," Casey said of the hot-hitting sophomore. "But Matt said he felt good, and we didn't want to lose his arm (from the lineup) in case we needed him to pitch in the ninth." Bailie was only 1-for-9 in the series at that point, and had struck out against Rivard the day before.
"It had definitely been a frustrating series for me," said Bailie. "I'd hit one line drive right at their pitcher; he'd snagged another one I hit up the middle to start a double play with the bases loaded ... but each at-bat is a new one and you've got to concentrate on that one." Bailie took a ball, then a called strike, then lined the next pitch into center field to drive in Hedges and pinch-runner Eric Stark for a 5-4 lead.
"He'd struck me out Friday, so I had something to prove to him," Bailie said of Rivard. "He threw a slider, and I was able to drive it up the middle."
Last weekend, Bailie had set a new school record for career runs batted in; the two he added late Saturday may have been the biggest of his 135.
"We knew we had to come out and get a sweep today," Bailie said. "Now we've got to play well Sunday. We know where we are and what we have to do. We were able to get it done today."
Rob Colley and Troy Schader both drove home insurance runs later in the inning by grounding two-out singles through the right side. Boire allowed a bunt single to Boyd Robertson to start the ninth, but Shawn Stevenson grounded back to the mound to start a double play, then Randall flied out to center field.
Beaver centerfielder Jason Stranburg was 4-for-7 and drove in two runs on the day, while Colley was 3-for-8 and drove in five runs.
FIRST GAME - NO. 19 OREGON STATE 12, WASHINGTON STATE 2 Washington State 000 020 0 - 2 7 2 Oregon State 000 750 x - 12 7 1 Wheeler, Guiver (5) and Scherer, Rindy (6). Checketts and Bertrand. WP-Checketts (10-1). LP-Wheeler (2-3). 2B-Hedges (OSU). HR-Colley (OSU). HITS: Washington State 7 (Randall 2-4, Grove 1-3, Curran 1-3, Scherer 1-3, Gleason 2-3), Oregon State 7 (Stranberg 2-3, Colley 1-3, Bertrand 1-4, Hedges 1-2, Conley 1-3, Lipe 1-4). RUNS BATTED IN: Washington State 2 (Randall 1, Gleason 1), Oregon State 11 (Stranberg 2, Colley 4, Bertrand 2, Conley 2, Willkie 1). T-2:13.
SECOND GAME - NO. 19 OREGON STATE 7, WASHINGTON STATE 4 Washington State 000 100 300 - 4 10 2 Oregon State 021 000 04x - 7 13 0 Medlahl, Rivard (8) and Smith. Percell, Boire (8) and Bertrand. WP-Boire (3-0). LP-Meldahl (4-5). 2B-Hattenburg 2 (WSU), Edler (WSU), Schader (OSU). 3B-Randall (WSU). HITS: Washington State 10 (Randall 1-4, Hattenburg 2-4, Edler 3-3, Mitchell 1-2, Robertson 3-4), Oregon State 13 (Stranberg 2-4, Colley 2-5, Schader 2-5, Bertrand 1-4, Hedges 1-4, Conley 1-3, Bailie 2-4, Willkie 2-3). RUNS BATTED IN: Washington State 3 (Randall 2, Mitchell 1), Oregon State 7 (Colley 1, Schader 1, Bertrand 1, Bailie 2, Willkie 2). T-3:01. A-1,165.
