OSU batters Portland in baseball
April 21, 1999
PORTLAND, Ore. - Josh Carter tied an Oregon State single-game record with five hits and the Beavers had their highest-scoring game of the season as they beat Portland 17-8 in non-league baseball Tuesday afternoon at Pilot Stadium. OSU (14-28 overall, 2-10 Pacific-10) also had a season-high 25 hits, just two short of the single-game school record.
Beaver first baseman Joe Gerber extended his hitting streak to 14 games, going 4-for-4, but all his hits were singles to end his streak of games with a home run at four. It was OSUs 10th straight win over the Pilots (14-21, 8-9 West Coast), who had won seven of their last 10 games before Tuesday.
Every Beaver starter had at least one hit, with Gerber and Drew Hedges getting four each and Tim Dryden three.
Carter, a freshman third baseman, tied the OSU record for hits in a game when he one-hopped a single between second and third base in the top of the ninth inning. When he went to the plate, Carter knew he had a shot at the record; it was less than a week after Gerber had delivered a five-hit game against Washington on April 14 to gain a share of the record.
"I was just hoping for a fifth hit, and I got it," Carter said. "I thought maybe the shortstop would get it, but it went through and we got a couple more runs on the board."
After batting just .170 through March 26, Carter has been on a tear. In his last 12 games, hes batting .393 (22-for-56) with five doubles, one triple and 12 runs batted in.
"Im just a lot more patient and a lot more confident," Carter said. "Im seeing the ball real well, too, and thats helped me a lot."
Carter drove in five runs on the day, and the final two scoring on his ninth-inning single put OSU up 14-8. Drew Hedges followed with a run-scoring double and Troy Schader with a three-run single to make it 17-8. That finally put away Portland, which had rallied from deficits of 7-1 and 12-5 to within 12-8 on solo homers by Ryan Powell, Nathan Hare and Brendan Wood in the seventh and eighth innings.
OSU had taken a 5-1 lead with a five-run third inning that included a run-scoring single by Carter and a two-run double by Hedges. The Pilots, though, got back within 7-5 by scoring four runs on three hits and two walks in the bottom of the fourth against Beaver starting pitcher Pat Versluis.
Travis Rainwater got the Beavers out of the inning and didnt allow a run until the bottom of the seventh. By then, OSU was up 12-5 after scoring five times on seven consecutive hits in the top of the sixth; that included run-scoring singles by Joe Gerber and Troy Schader and a two-run single by Carter.
Rainwater got the win, pitching 2 1/3 innings and allowing two runs (both earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out one. For Rainwater, now 1-0, it was his first victory as a Beaver after starting his career at Portland State.
OSU now travels to Washington for a three-game Pacific-10 series starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
OREGON STATE 17, PORTLAND 8
Oregon State 005 205 005 - 17 25 0 Portland 010 400 210 - 8 16 3Versluis, Rainwater (4), Ranstad (7), Gits (8) and Ingram, Sakamoto (9). Blackhurst, Clark (3), Graham (6), Yarbrough (8), Cram (9) and G. Hare. WP-Rainwater (1-0). LP-Blackhurst (2-5). 2B-Hedges 2 (OSU), Ingram (OSU), G. Hare (UP), Speer (UP). HR-Powell (UP), N. Hare (UP), Wood (UP).
HITS: Oregon State 25 (Stark 2x5, Willkie 2x5, Gerber 4x4, Dryden 3x6, Carter 5x6, Hedges 4x5, Schader 2x6, Ingram 2x5, Rumrey 1x3), Portland 16 (G. Hare 1x3, Powell 2x5, N. Hare 4x5, Trevarthen 1x3, Speer 1x4, Hansen 2x3, Lunde 2x5, Beeler 2x3, Wood 1x1). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 16 (Stark 2, Willkie 1, Gerber 2, Carter 5, Hedges 3, Schader 3), Portland 6 (Powell 1, Hare 1, Hansen 1, Lunde 1, Beeler 1, Wood 1).
