No. 2 OSU Loses Second Straight To Arizona - Oregon State University Athletics

TUCSON, Ariz. - Oregon State saw Arizona score two runs in four different innings as the second-ranked Beavers fell to the 25th-ranked Wildcats 8-2 in Pacific-10 baseball Saturday evening at Kindall Field at Sancet Stadium. OSU (23-5 overall, 0-2 Pac-10) left 12 runners on base as Arizona (24-6, 2-0) won its 10th straight game.

Oregon State and Arizona conclude their series Sunday at 12 noon; it can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area; it wiill be delayed at 3 p.m. on KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area. Live audio and video for the game will be available on the internet via subscription on Beaver Nation Online at .

On Saturday, the Wildcats matched the season-highs for runs and hits allowed (11) by Oregon State as they picked up two runs in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth innings. OSU, which had won 12 straight games entering the series, finished the evening with half its runners left on base in scoring position as it turned nine hits, six walks and two hit batters into two runs.

“I don’t know how many two-strike hits we’ve given up in the last two games, but it’s probably more than we’ve given up in the last 10 games combined,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “And when you go up and take called third strikes with runners in scoring position, you make mistakes like we made in the first inning ...

“We haven’t played well, and two-out, two-strike hits are killing us along with the fact that we continue to swing at pitches out of the zone. We’re not playing the type of baseball we normally play, and they’re exposing us.”

Arizona scored four of its runs on Saturday night with two out after scoring all of its runs in Friday night’s 5-4 victory with two out. Of the Wildcats’ 19 hits in the series, 11 have come with two strikes.

UA lefthander Brad Mills improved his record to 6-2 this season, pitching 6 2/3 innings and allowing both OSU runs on nine hits and four walks while striking out eight. Beaver lefthander Joe Paterson took the loss, falling to 5-2, as he went 4 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on six hits and no walks while striking out two.

The Beavers had a chance to seize the momentum in the top of the first inning after Chris Hopkins led off with an infield single, but he was caught stealing when he was picked off first base by Mills. Darwin Barney and Mike Lissman added singles later in the inning, but OSU was scoreless in the three-hit inning.

Arizona went up 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning. OSU starter Joe Paterson hit Bill Rhinehart with a pitch to start the inning, then got Brad Glenn to ground into a forceout. T.J. Steele followed with a single up the middle to put runners at first and second, and Jon Gaston added another single up the middle that scored Glenn and sent Steele to third. Dwight Childs’ sacrifice fly to left put the Wildcats up 2-0.

Arizona made it 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brad Glenn led off with a double to right-center, then advanced to third on Gaston’s one-out infield single. Childs tried to squeeze him home but Paterson fielded his bunt and threw Glenn out at the plate. Robert Abel then drove a two-run double to right-centerfield for the 4-0 lead.

OSU got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth inning against UA starter Brad Mills. Chris Hopkins led off with a double down the leftfield line and took third on Mitch Canham’s single to left; Darwin Barney then grounded into a double play that scored Hopkins to make it 4-1. Oregon State managed to continue the threat when Mike Lissman was hit by a pitch and Jason Ogata bounced an infield single to the left side, but Braden Wells flied out to right to end the inning.

Arizona bumped its lead to 6-1 on a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Gaston singled and Childs walked to start the inning against OSU reliever Mark Grbavac, were sacrificed to second and third by Robert Abel, and then scored on Diallo Fon’s triple to center.

OSU got within 6-2 with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning but again missed out on drawing even closer. The Beavers loaded the bases with two out against Mills, then pinch-hitter Scott Santschi drew a walk from reliever Jason Stoffel to force in a run. Stoffel managed to sneak a called third strike past Drew George to end the inning.

Arizona picked up its final two runs in the bottom of the eight, getting run-scoring singles from Robert Abel and Colt Sedbrook.

The opening games of the series mark the first time that OSU has lost back-to-back games, and the first time that the Beavers have lost a series, since dropping two of three games at Arizona State in mid-May of last season. Arizona's winning streak is its longest since it won 13 straight during the 1998 season.

Oregon State 2 (23-5,0-2 Pac-10) Arizona 8 (24-6,2-0 Pac-10)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------

Chris Hopkins cf........... 4 1 2 0 Diallo Fon lf.............. 5 0 2 2

Mitch Canham c............. 4 0 1 0 Colt Sedbrook 2b/3b........ 5 0 1 1

Darwin Barney ss........... 4 1 1 0 C.J. Ziegler 1b............ 4 0 1 0

Mike Lissman dh............ 4 0 1 0 Mike Weldon 2b............ 1 0 0 0

Jason Ogata 1b............. 5 0 2 0 Bill Rhinehart dh.......... 2 0 0 0

Braden Wells rf............ 2 0 0 0 Brad Glenn 3b/1b........... 4 1 1 0

Lonnie Lechelt 2b.......... 2 0 1 0 T.J. Steele cf............. 4 1 1 0

Scott Santschi ph/lf...... 0 0 0 1 Jon Gaston rf.............. 3 3 3 1

Drew George 3b............. 4 0 1 0 Dwight Childs c............ 2 2 0 1

Scotty Berke lf............ 3 0 0 0 Robert Abel ss............. 3 1 2 3

Joey Wong 2b.............. 1 0 0 0 Brad Mills p............... 0 0 0 0

Joe Paterson p............. 0 0 0 0 Jason Stoffel p........... 0 0 0 0

Mark Grbavac p............ 0 0 0 0

Greg Keim p............... 0 0 0 0

Anton Maxwell p........... 0 0 0 0

Totals..................... 33 2 9 1 Totals..................... 33 8 11 8

Score by Innings R H E

-------------------------------------------

Oregon State........ 000 010 100 - 2 9 1

Arizona............. 020 202 02X - 8 11 0

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E - Lechelt. DP - Arizona 2. LOB - Oregon St. 12; Arizona 8. 2B - Hopkins; Glenn;

Abel. 3B - Fon. HBP - Canham; Lissman; Rhinehart 3. SH - Abel. SF - Childs. SB -

Fon; Gaston; Abel. CS - Hopkins; Rhinehart.

Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO

------------------------------------------------

Joe Paterson L,5-2........ 4.2 6 4 4 0 2

Mark Grbavac .............. 0.2 2 2 2 1 1

Greg Keim ................. 2.0 1 2 2 1 0

Anton Maxwell ............. 0.2 2 0 0 0 1

Arizona IP H R ER BB SO

------------------------------------------------

Brad Mills W,6-2.......... 6.2 9 2 2 4 8

Jason Stoffel S,1......... 2.1 0 0 0 2 4

WP - Mills. HBP - by Paterson (Rhinehart); by Paterson (Rhinehart); by Mills (Lissman);

by Paterson (Rhinehart); by Mills (Canham).

Umpires - HP: Mike Jost 1B: Travis Katzenmeier 3B: Joe Burleson

Start: 6:01 pm Time: 3:12 Attendance: 2132