Beavers Start With A Win Over Cal
March 26, 2004
BERKELEY, Calif. - Jake Postlewait pitched his sixth win of the season as Oregon State beat California 15-5 on Friday afternoon in Pacific-10 baseball at Evans Diamond. Paul Richie was 3-for-5 and drove in three runs for OSU (15-6 overall, 1-0 Pac-10), which took control of its conference-opener with a five-run third inning.
The Beavers and Golden Bears (14-16, 2-2) continue their series Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games can be heard on KEJO-AM and on the internet at www.osubeavers.com.
On Friday, Postlewait pitched out of trouble several times early to improve to 6-0 this season; he won for the 11th time in 12 decisions over the last two seasons. Meanwhile, the Beavers were knocking out 13 hits against five Cal pitchers and beat sophomore righthander Adam Gold, who had brought a 4-2 record and 2.34 earned run average into the game.
"We talked about how tough it was to get your first win in the conference, and to be on the road and play Cal after what they had done down at Arizona State," OSU head coach Pat Casey said of the Bears, who had taken two of three games at ASU last weekend. "I'm pretty impressed with our club; I thought they came out and played well. I thought Jake Postlewait was real good; I don't think he was as crisp as he's been but he found a way then we battled a real good pitcher."
In the first inning, Cal put runners at second and third with one out but couldn't score. After OSU took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bears threatened to get back in the game as they got runners to second and third with none out, but Postlewait got Brian Horwitz to fly out to shallow centerfield, retired James holder on a tapper back to the mound and finished the inning by sneaking a called third strike past Brett Munster.
"Jake's stuff wasn't the best it's been," said Richie, OSU's catcher. "His breaking ball wasn't very crisp today, but the thing about Jake that makes him a special guy is, runners on second and third, you bear down. He's a bulldog; he's going to give you his best stuff and he's going to get an out, and that's why he wins - because he's a competitor out on the mound."
In the top of the fifth inning, Richie turned in a big play of his own. Earlier, Gold had struck him out looking with the bases loaded; this time, Richie came up with runners at second and third and two out, and on a full-count pitch he poked a two-run single into rightfield to put OSU in front 7-1.
"The first at-bat, I fouled off a couple of tough pitches and I was just trying to battle and put the ball in play," Richie said. "He got me on a pitch I thought was borderline; it might have been down a little bit but I've got to be swinging the bat there. I was in the same situation where I was deep in the count, and I just told myself that I wasn't going to give in; if it was over the plate, I was swinging."
Richie's batting average jumped from .296 to .322 with his three-hit day; his first hit was a single that began OSU's five-run third inning. Aaron Mathews and Shea McFeely had RBI singles to start the scoring, then Mike Hass added a two-run double down the leftfield line and Andy Jenkins chipped in another run-scoring single.
Cal eventually got back within 7-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but OSU scored three times in the top of the sixth, once in the seventh and four times in the eighth to break the game open.
"It's real important to come out here and get a win," Richie said. "This win doesn't mean too much, though, until we come out and get a win tomorrow and get a win on Sunday ... this win is important, but tomorrow's win is even bigger."
Hass' double was OSU's only extra-base hit of the game, but McFeely was 2-for-3, Jenkins 2-for-5 and Mathews 2-for-6 for the Beavers. Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
OREGON STATE 15, CALIFORNIA 5
Oregon State 005 023 140 - 15 13 2 California 001 020 002 - 5 10 2Postlewait, Sanders (7), Pendley (9) and Richie, Munich (9). Gold, Read (5), Swanson (6), Hale (7), Talbott (8) and Grossman. W-Postlwait (6-0). L-Gold (4-3). 2B-Hass (OSU), Karnofsky (UC), Nicholdon 2 (UC), Nelson (UC). HR-Dragicevich (UC).
HITS: Oregon State 13 (Ellsbury 1x5, Mathews 2x6, Campos 1x3, McFeely 2x3, Hass 1x4, Calderon 1x3, Jenkins 2x5, Richie 3x5), California 10 (Karnofsky 1x1, Nicholson 2x5, Weiner 1x4, Grossman 2x4, Nelson 1x3, Burchett 1x1, Dragicevich 2x4). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 10 (Mathews 1, McFeely 1, Hass 3, Calderon 1, Jenkins 1, Richie 3), California 5 (Karnofsky 1, Nicholson 1, Grossman 1, Dragicevich 1).
Oregon State 15 (15-6,1-0 PAC-10) California 5 (14-16,2-2 PAC-10)Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Jacoby Ellsbury rf......... 5 2 1 0 Allen Craig 1b............. 2 0 0 0 Aaron Mathews cf........... 6 2 2 1 Jordan Karnofsky 1b....... 1 1 1 1 Chris Campos lf............ 3 1 1 0 David Nicholson 3b......... 5 1 2 1 Tyler Graham pr/lf........ 1 2 0 0 David Weiner cf............ 4 0 1 1 Shea McFeely 3b............ 3 3 2 1 Chris Grossman c........... 4 0 2 1 Mike Hass dh............... 4 2 1 3 Justin Nelson lf........... 3 0 1 0 Mike Lissman ph........... 1 0 0 0 Brian Horwitz rf........... 4 0 0 0 Tony Calderon ss........... 3 1 1 1 James Holder dh............ 3 0 0 0 Andy Jenkins 1b............ 5 0 2 1 Brennan Boesch ph......... 1 0 0 0 Paul Richie c.............. 5 2 3 3 Brett Munster 2b........... 3 0 0 0 Billy Munich c............ 0 0 0 0 Jeremy Burchett ph........ 1 1 1 0 Chad Schroeder 2b.......... 2 0 0 0 Jeff Dragicevich ss........ 4 2 2 1 Chris Kunda 2b............ 1 0 0 0 Adam Gold p................ 0 0 0 0 Jake Postlewait p.......... 0 0 0 0 Blake Read p.............. 0 0 0 0 Jared Sanders p........... 0 0 0 0 Matt Swanson p............ 0 0 0 0 Nathan Pendley p.......... 0 0 0 0 Brent Hale p.............. 0 0 0 0 Travis Talbott p.......... 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 39 15 13 10 Totals..................... 35 5 10 5
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Oregon State........ 005 023 140 - 15 13 2 California.......... 001 020 002 - 5 10 2 -------------------------------------------
E - Calderon; Postlewait; Craig; Nicholson. DP - Oregon St. 2. LOB - Oregon St. 8; California 7. 2B - Hass; Karnofsky; Nicholson 2; Nelson. HR - Dragicevich. HBP - Hass. SH - Calderon; Schroeder. SF - Weiner. SB - Horwitz. CS - Calderon.
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Jake Postlewait W,6-0..... 6.0 7 3 3 3 3 Jared Sanders ............. 2.2 2 2 2 0 2 Nathan Pendley ............ 0.1 1 0 0 0 0
California IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Adam Gold L,4-3........... 4.2 8 7 7 3 4 Blake Read ................ 1.0 2 3 3 2 1 Matt Swanson .............. 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 Brent Hale ................ 1.1 2 5 1 2 1 Travis Talbott ............ 1.2 1 0 0 1 1
WP - Hale. HBP - by Gold (Hass). BK - Read. PB - Grossman 2.
Umpires - HP: John Deluca 1B: Darrell Mason 3B: Dwayne Finley Start: 2:00 pm Time: 3:17 Attendance: 193
