OSU opens baseball series with loss
March 27, 1999
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Oregon State spotted Minnesota a five-run lead Friday night, then an OSU comeback was cut off by a late Gopher outburst as the Beavers fell 14-6 in the opener of a three-game non-league baseball series at the Metrodome. After trailing 5-0, Oregon State got back within 7-5 but Minnesota scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the win.
"You just cant put yourself in that big a hole against a good club," OSU assistant coach Dan Spencer said. "We had some guys do a nice job hitting the ball after the first few innings and we made a few charges at them. But when youve put yourself in that hole, everythings got to go just right the rest of the night, and thats a tall order."
OSU (10-17 overall) will try to break a four-game losing streak when it meets Minnesota (14-6) today at 4:30 p.m. PST.
On Friday, Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 lead when it strung together four straight two-out hits against Beaver starter Mark Newell. The Gophers added two more runs when the bottom third of their order came up with three straight hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 5-0.
Oregon State came back with a sacrifice fly by Rod Gott in the top of the fifth inning, then got sacrifice flies by Bryan Ingram and Corrie Willkie in the top of the sixth to get within 5-3. Minnesota pushed the lead back to 7-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth.
OSU responded again in the top of the seventh, getting run-scoring singles by Ingram and Drew Hedges to make it 7-5. With two out, the Beavers had runners at first and second for Willkie; his drive looked like it had a chance to clear the left-field wall and give OSU the lead but it was flagged down on the warning track by Gopher left fielder Scott Howard to end the inning.
Minnesota then all but assured itself of its eighth straight win in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Scanlon led off with a double against Newell, and Scanlon would return to the plate before the inning was over and double again. All told, the Gophers scored seven runs in the inning on six hits, including an RBI triple by Robb Quinlan that gave him a tie for Minnesotas career hits record at 271.
MINNESOTA 14, OREGON STATE 6
Oregon State 000 012 210 - 6 10 2 Minnesota 300 202 70x - 14 17 0Newell, Strode (7), Rumrey (7), Gits (8) and Ingram, Sakamoto (8). Werner, Haring (6), Shupe (6), Wagner (8) and Negen, Holthaus (7). WP-Werner (3-0). LP-Newell (3-2). 2B-Gerber (OSU), Quinlan (UM), Scanlon 2 (UM), Amundson (UM), Hannahan (UM), Negen (UM). 3B-Quinlan (UM).
HITS: Oregon State 10 (Gott 1x3, Davis 2x3, Gerber 3x5, Ingram 1x3, Dryden 1x1, Hedges 2x3), Minnesota 17 (Arlt 1x4, Quinlan 2x4, Scanlon 3x4, Amundson 2x3, Hannahan 3x4, Howard 1x3, Nuss 1x1, Negen 2x3, Kennedy 2x4). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 6 (Willkie 1, Gott 2, Ingram 2, Hedges 1), Minnesota 15 (R. Brosseau 1, Arlt 2, Quinlan 2, Scanlon 2, Amundson 2, Hannahan 1, Negen 1, Holthaus 1, Kennedy 3).
