Nickerson Fans 13 As OSU Beats Cal Poly 8-4 In Baseball
OSU wraps up its weekend against
Against Cal Poly (24-20, 7-5 Big West), a season-high crowd of 2,165 watched the Beavers and Mustangs battle through a 39-minute first inning that included 95 pitches and ended with OSU in front 4-3. Nickerson then settled in and didn’t allow a run in the rest of his 6 2/3 innings.
In his half of the first inning, Nickerson threw 45 pitches; after striking out the first two hitters the junior righthander allowed a double to Josh Lansford, a pair of walks and then a two-run single by Corey Barthel and a run-scoring single by Matt Canepa.
“I was just trying to get out of there with the least amount of damage possible and limit my pitches that early in the game so I’d at least be able to go five innings and give us a chance to come back,” Nickerson said. When OSU came to the plate in the bottom of the first, it took advantage of five walks from Cal Poly righthander Gary Daley to take the lead at 4-3; Daley threw 50 pitches and OSU got run-scoring singles from Bill Rowe and Gipson and a bases-loaded walk by Santschi.
Nickerson then retired the Mustangs in order in the second inning and OSU resumed building its lead.
“It helped getting the runs back in the bottom of the first and gave me confidence to go back out there and throw strikes,” Nickerson said. “Then to go back out there and throw just eight pitches the second inning really helped eliminate some of the first inning.”
Nickerson improved his record to 8-3 this season as he won his sixth straight start. His previous career-high had been a pair of 10-strikeout games, both coming at
“I was making pretty decent pitches to get to no balls-one strike, no balls-two strikes,” Nickerson said. “Then once I got to two strikes, I was making even better pitches to finish them off ... I wasn’t keeping track during the game. I thought I was around the 10 mark, but once I found out it was 13, I was a little shocked.”
After Nickerson exited, relievers Eddie Kunz, Mark Grbavac and Gunderson finished up as OSU improved its home record this season to 18-2.
Nickerson climbed into fifth place on OSU’s career strikeouts list and, with a career record of 21-8 he’s just one win away from a place on OSU’s all-time top 10 for career victories. Gunderson, meanwhile, got the 31st save of his career to move into a tie for second place on the Pac-10’s all-time list with Washington’s Brett Merrick (1993-95), trailing only Southern California’s Jack Krawczyk (49, 1995-98).
“Jonah did a great job,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “When you’ve got to throw that many pitches in the first inning it makes it difficult, and I was very impressed with how he came back. I thought Eddie Kunz came back and through very well; he wasn’t happy with his last outing (losing in relief against
OSU made it 5-3 in the bottom of the second inning when John Wallace led off with a triple to centerfield and scored on a passed ball. In the third, it went to 7-3 as Canham walked and Shea McFeely singled to start the inning, with Canham going to third on the hit and McFeely taking second on the throw to third base; Santschi then delivered a run-scoring groundout and Gipson added a sacrifice fly. The Beavers got their final run in the bottom of the sixth when Rowe walked with two out and Canham tripled to right-center.
NO. 6
Cal Poly 300 000 001 – 4 9 2
Daley, Eager (5), Slorp (6), Reed (8) and Canepa. Nickerson, Kunz (7), Grbavac (9), Gunderson (9) and Canham. W-Nickerson (8-3). L-Daley (5-6). Sv-Gunderson (14). 2B-Lansford (CPU), Van Ostrand (CPU). 3B-Wallace (OSU), Canham (OSU).
HITS: Cal Poly 9 (Buschini 1x5, Lansford 1x4, Van Ostrand 2x3, Barthel 1x4, Canepa 3x4, Pezet 1x1), Oregon State 5 (Wallace 1x3, Rowe 1x4, Canham 1x4, McFeely 1x2, Gipson 1x2). RUNS BATTED IN: Cal Poly 3 (Barhtel 2, Canepa 1),
Cal Poly 4 (24-20)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Gardiner, Jimmy lf......... 4 0 0 0 Kunda, Chris 2b............ 2 1 0 0
Lee, Ryan ph.............. 1 0 0 0 Wallace, John cf........... 3 2 1 0
Buschini, Adam dh.......... 5 0 1 0 Barney,
Lansford, Josh 3b.......... 4 1 1 0 Gillespie, Cole lf......... 4 0 0 0
Van Ostrand, Jimmy 1b...... 3 1 2 0 Rowe, Bill 1b.............. 4 1 1 1
Desme, Grant cf............ 3 1 0 0 Canham, Mitch c............ 4 2 1 2
Barthel, Corey rf.......... 4 0 1 2 McFeely, Shea 3b........... 2 1 1 0
Canepa, Matt c............. 4 0 3 1 Santschi, Scott rf......... 2 0 0 2
Morel, Brent ss............ 2 0 0 0 Gipson, Ryan dh............ 2 0 1 2
Swertfager, Greg ph....... 1 0 0 0 Nickerson, Jonah p......... 0 0 0 0
Pezet, Pat 2b............. 1 1 1 0 Kunz, Eddie p............. 0 0 0 0
Gil, Gilbert 2b/ss......... 3 0 0 0 Grbavac, Mark p........... 0 0 0 0
Cooper, Matt ph........... 1 0 0 0 Gunderson, Kevin p........ 0 0 0 0
Daley,
Eager, Thomas p........... 0 0 0 0
Slorp, Andrew p........... 0 0 0 0
Reed, Evan p.............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 36 4 9 3 Totals..................... 26 8 5 7
Score by Innings R H E
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Cal Poly............ 300 000 001 - 4 9 2
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E - Lansford; Daley; McFeely. DP - Cal Poly 1;
Santschi. SH - Kunda. SF - Gipson. SB - Canham. CS - McFeely.
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Daley, Gary L,5-6......... 4.2 4 7 7 7 4
Eager, Thomas ............. 1.0 1 1 1 3 0
Slorp, Andrew ............. 1.1 0 0 0 2 0
Reed, Evan ................ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
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Nickerson, Jonah W,8-3.... 6.2 7 3 3 3 13
Kunz, Eddie ............... 1.1 1 0 0 0 1
Grbavac, Mark ............. 0.2 1 1 0 1 0
Gunderson, Kevin S,14..... 0.1 0 0 0 0 0
WP - Daley; Slorp; Kunz. HBP - by Daley (Canham); by Daley (Santschi). PB - Canepa;
Canham.
Umpires - HP: Todd Ellis 1B: Terry Fischer 3B: Scott Eastburn
Start: 4:11 PM Time:
