Baseball Splits with No. 19 Washington
April 11, 1998
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State kept hold of first place in the Pacific-10 Northern Division baseball race Saturday by splitting with Washington at Coleman Field. Andrew Checketts pitched the 22nd-ranked Beavers to a 10-5 win in the first game, then the 19th-ranked Huskies took a wild 18-16 win in the second game despite three homers by Beaver catcher Ben Bertrand.
OSU (22-8-1 overall, 7-3 Northern Division) still leads Washington (21-11, 7-4) by one-half game. Oregon State has taken two of the first three games in the four-game series, which wraps up with a single game Sunday at 1 p.m.
"Sunday, we've got to come out and play hard, with hustle and with some fire," said Bertrand, who tied a school record with his three homers in the second game.
Saturday's doubleheader concluded almost 7 1/2 hours after its scheduled noon start. The beginning of the first game had been delayed 30 minutes by rain.
The Beavers pushed their winning streak to 10 games as Checketts tossed a six-hitter in the opener; that was OSU's longest winning streak since a 15-gamer in 1986. Checketts improved his record to 8-1 this season, throwing his fourth straight complete game and walking three while striking out three.
The Beavers led just 5-3 going to the bottom of the fifth inning. Then Drew Hedges hit a solo homer to right in the fifth to make it 6-3; OSU added four runs in the sixth inning, including a three-run homer to left-center by Matt Bailie.
Brian Duerr, playing in place of ill Beaver third baseman Ryan Lipe, continued his hot series by getting the Beavers started with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning.
The second game was tied 16-16 going to the ninth inning, and Washington got the deciding runs after loading the bases with two out in the top of the inning; Kevin Ticen's nubber off OSU reliever Mike Boire died in front of shortstop Troy Schader to drive in the go-ahead run; Boire was then called for a balk that sent in the second run.
In the bottom of the inning, the Beavers got runners to first and second with one out for Schader, but his sharply-hit ground ball found UW third baseman Ryan Lentz playing close to the bag. He touched third for one out, then threw to first to complete the game-ending double play.
"We had every opportunity to win that game, but we didn't do the job," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "We had a two-game lead in a four-game series, then we got outscrapped and outhustled in our own yard. You can't do that."
Bertrand started his second-game show with a two-run homer to center in the bottom of the first inning. After singling in the third, Bertrand added a two-run homer to left-center in the fourth and a two-run homer to right-center in the seventh.
That tied the school record for homers in a game, which Bertrand now shares with Steve Smith (vs. Oregon Tech, 1983), Jim Wilson (vs. Washington State, 1982) and Darryl Summerfield (vs. Washington, 1968). It was Bertrand's first three-homer game since he'd managed the feat in back-to-back games in Little League.
"I feel good about my offense, but it's bittersweet to lose the game," Bertrand said. "We had a lot of chances to take control of it and we didn't."
OSU had leads of 6-2 after three innings, 9-7 after four and 13-10 after five. The Beavers tied the game at 16-16 in the bottom of the eighth when Rob Colley grounded a two-out single through the right side, scoring Corrie Willkie from second base.
Colley also had a three-run homer for the Beavers in the second game, giving OSU seven home runs for the day. Bertrand finished the doubleheader 5-for-6 with seven runs batted in, while Colley was 4-for-10 with six RBIs and Hedges was 5-for-8.
FIRST GAME
NO. 22 OREGON STATE 10
NO. 19 WASHINGTON 5
Washington 001 020 2 - 5 6 0 Oregon State 023 014 x - 10 10 1
Anderson, Bomar (2), Lee (3), Massingale (6) and Orgill, Bundy (5). Checketts and Bertrand.
WP-Checketts (8-1). LP-Bomar (1-1). HR - Lentz (UW), Bailie (OSU), Hedges OSU), Duerr (OSU).
HITS: Washington 6 (Miller 1-4, Lentz 1-3, Erickson 1-4, Williamson 1-2, Woods 1-3, Stefonick 1-3), Oregon State 10 (Willkie 2-4, Bertrand 1-2, Bailie 1-3, Hedges 3-4, Duerr 1-2, Schader 1-3, Bates 1-3).
RUNS BATTED IN: Washington 5 (Magruder 1, Lentz 2, Erickson 2), Oregon
State 10 (Bertrand 1, Bailie 3, Hedges 1, Duerr 3, Schader 2).
SECOND GAME
NO. 19 WASHINGTON 18
NO. 22 OREGON STATE 16
Washington 200 530 602 - 18 21 1 Oregon State 204 340 210 - 16 17 3
Hampton, Williamson (3), Ferguson (6), Morrison (8) and Bundy. Percell, Stykel (5), Bronson (5), Mencas (7), Boire (9) and Bertrand.
WP-Morrison (1-0). LP-Mencas (2-1). 2B-Ticen (UW), Woods (UW), Willkie (OSU), Colley (OSU), Gerber (OSU), Duerr (OSU).
3B-Miller (UW), Woods (UW). HR-Magruder (UW), Stefonick (UW), Colley (OSU), Bertrand 3 (OSU).
HITS: Washington 21 (Magruder 2-5, Miller 2-6, Lentz 2-6, Woody 2-5, Ticen 3-5, Stefonick 4-6, Woods 4-5, Bundy 1-5, Whitemarsh 1-5), Oregon State 17 (Willkie 1-5, Colley 4-6, Bertrand 4-4, Gerber 1-2, Hedges 2-4, Duerr 2-5, Bates 1-1, Stark 2-3).
RUNS BATTED IN: Washington 17 (Magruder 3, Miller 1, Lentz 2, Ticen 1, Stefonick 5, Woods 3, Bundy 1, Whitemarsh 1), Oregon State 16 (Willkie 1, Colley 6, Bertrand 6, Gerber 2, Hedges 1).
