No. 8 OSU Finds It Will Host Regional, Then Falls In Regular-Season Finale
The NCAA Corvallis Regional will begin Friday at the OSU ballpark. The field and pairings for the 64-team tournament will be announced Monday at
“It’s great for our guys to be hosting a regional – they deserve it,” said OSU head coach Pat Casey, whose team is 22-4 at home this season and 46-9 in its home ballpark over the past two seasons. “Any time you win a conference like the Pac-10, those guys are well-deserving of hosting a regional.”
On Sunday before a sellout crowd of 2,086, both the Beavers and Bruins (32-23, 13-10) managed just six hits but UCLA got a few more to fall at key times and end OSU’s five-game winning streak. Bruin lefthander Dave Huff pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits and three walks while striking out three.
“We needed to make some adjustments at the plate,” said Casey, whose team had averaged 9.4 runs and 14.2 hits over its previous five games. “Huff is going to be a first-round draft pick; he’s got decent velocity and he pitches on both sides of the plate and he’s got a good change. He just did a good job, and when we did have the opportunity to do some things, we didn’t execute. We just didn’t do some things that we normally do pretty well that kept us from getting on the board.”
OSU righthander Jonah Nickerson saw his personal winning streak end at seven straight decisions despite allowing just two runs on four hits and two walks in six innings; he also struck out five, putting him just two strikeouts away from tying
“I thought Jonah pitched well; we just have to do a better job at the plate when we have that opportunity,” Casey said.
A hit batter, a walk and Cody Decker’s two-out single to right gave UCLA a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. OSU had a chance to even the game in the bottom of the third when it put runners at first and third with one out, but Darwin Barney flied out to shallow rightfield and John Wallace grounded out to Huff to end the inning.
The Bruins made it 2-0 in the top of the fifth. With one out, Brandon Crawford lined a ball into centerfield and Wallace – playing center as the Beavers rested Tyler Graham – made a diving try for the ball but it got past him for a triple; Jermaine Curtis followed with a sacrifice fly.
OSU finally scored in the bottom of the sixth as Barney drew a leadoff walk, went to third on Cole Gillespie’s one-out single and scored on Shea McFeely’s looping single to right to get within 2-1. The Beavers still had runners at first and second with one out and they moved to second and third when Mike Lissman grounded out to Huff, but he retired Mitch Canham on a flyout to left to end the inning.
UCLA finished the scoring in the top of the seventh as Ryan Babineau singled with one out, was sacrificed to second and scored on Curtis’ two-out single to center. OSU threatened in the bottom of the eighth as it put a pair of runners aboard but McFeely and Lissman grounded out against reliever Tyson Brummet to end the inning.
The Beavers brought the tying run to the plate after Kunda doubled down the leftfield line with one out in the ninth, but Brummett induced groundouts by Bill Rowe and pinch-hitter Scott Santschi to end the game.
“We would have liked to use this game for a little momentum going into next week, but their pitcher did a great job of keeping us off-balance all day,” Gillespie said. “Really, we didn’t do the little things or make the adjustments all through the game, but tip your hat to that pitcher.”
OSU honored seniors Kunda, Rowe, McFeely, Ryan Gipson, Jon Koller and Geoff Wagner prior to their final regular season game at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. Afterward, the Beavers turned their attention to next weekend’s start of postseason play.
“I think our bats are going to stay hot,” Barney said. “Today was a day when we came out here and were trying to get a win, but we had different things on our minds. We have bigger things to look forward to. UCLA is a good club, and you can’t roll over for anybody. They didn’t, and they really gave it to us today.
“We’re looking forward to next week. We’ll get a good week of practice in, and we’ve got big things in the future. We’re not going to let down this year and we’re not going to have any what-ifs. After today, the sense across the clubhouse is that everybody is a little upset, the pride is taken away a little bit, and now we’re ready for some big games.”
UCLA 3, NO. 8
UCLA 100 010 100 – 3 6 0
Huff, Brummett (8) and Babineau. Nickerson,Paterson (7), Kunz (8), Gunderson (9) and Canham. W-Huff (7-3). L-Nickerson (9-4). Sv-Brummett (1). 2B-Kunda 2 (OSU). 3B-Crawford.
HITS: UCLA 6 (Crawford 2x4, Curtis 1x2, Stewart 1x4, Decker 1x4, Babineau 1x3), Oregon State 6 (Barney 1x3, Gillespie 1x3, McFeely 1x4, Kunda 2x4, Gipson 1x3). RUNS BATTED IN: UCLA 3 (Curtis 2, Decker 1),
UCLA 3 (32-23,13-10 PAC-10)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Crawford, Brandon ss....... 4 1 2 0 Barney,
Curtis, Jermaine 3b........ 2 1 1 2 Wallace, John cf........... 3 0 0 0
Jensen, Chris rf........... 3 0 0 0 Kahalehoe, Koa cf......... 0 0 0 0
Stewart, Tim 1b............ 4 0 1 0 Lechelt, Lonnie ph/cf..... 1 0 0 0
Decker, Cody dh............ 4 0 1 1 Gillespie, Cole lf......... 3 0 1 0
Smith, Sean 2b............. 3 0 0 0 McFeely, Shea 3b........... 4 0 1 1
Dunlap, Blair lf........... 4 0 0 0 Lissman, Mike dh........... 4 0 0 0
Murphy, Tim cf............. 2 0 0 0 Canham, Mitch c............ 4 0 0 0
Penniall, Will ph......... 1 0 0 0 Kunda, Chris 2b............ 4 0 2 0
Babineau, Ryan c........... 3 1 1 0 Gipson, Ryan rf............ 3 0 1 0
Huff, Dave p............... 0 0 0 0 Santschi, Scott ph........ 1 0 0 0
Brummett, Tyson p......... 0 0 0 0 Nickerson, Jonah p......... 0 0 0 0
Kunz, Eddie p............. 0 0 0 0
Gunderson, Kevin p........ 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 31 3 6 3 Totals..................... 32 1 6 1
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
UCLA................ 100 010 100 - 3 6 0
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E - Barney. DP - UCLA 1;
- Crawford. HBP - Curtis; Rowe. SH - Crawford. SF - Curtis. SB - Babineau.
UCLA IP H R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------------
Huff, Dave W,7-3.......... 7.1 5 1 1 3 3
Brummett, Tyson S,1....... 1.2 1 0 0 0 1
------------------------------------------------
Nickerson, Jonah L,9-4.... 6.0 4 2 2 2 5
Paterson, Joe ............. 1.0 2 1 1 0 0
Kunz, Eddie ............... 1.2 0 0 0 1 0
Gunderson, Kevin .......... 0.1 0 0 0 0 0
HBP - by Nickerson (Curtis); by Huff (Rowe).
Umpires - HP: Kevin Gillmore 1B: Travis Katzenmeier 3B: Steve Mattingly
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