No. 11 OSU Drops Series Opener
The Beavers and Cougars (24-21, 7-12) continue their series Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. The games can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the
On Friday, Lissman’s two hits gave him 186 for his career, matching the number collected by Pete Rowe from 1974-77. OSU, though, lost for just the third time in 17 home games this season as
“We’re just not doing the fundamental things in the game,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “We have a bunt on and we don’t get the bunt down, we don’t hit the cutoff man, we don’t hold runners, we get behind hitters – within the game itself, we’re just not doing the things you have to to win games.
“You’ve played almost 50 ballgames and you’ve won the majority of them; you feel you’ve got the right plan,” Casey said. “You have to follow the plan, you have to do those things. If you’ve got a bunt on, you execute the bunt. If you’ve got a hit-and-run on, you’ve got to put the ball on the ground. If you bring a pitcher in, he’s got to get ahead of hitters. It’s pretty much the fundamentals of the game hurting us right now.”
Down 5-4 after six innings, the Beavers had chances to even the game in both the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Wong had a one-out double to right-centerfield to get in scoring position for the top of the order but the Beavers stranded him. In the eighth, Mitch Canham led off with a walk to bring the hot-hitting Jason Ogata to the plate but he was unable to sacrifice Canham to second, and when the Beavers put on the hit-and-run with two strikes, Ogata lined into a double play.
OSU looked as though it might have put the tying run on base to start the ninth inning, as well, when Lissman lined a ball toward WSU centerfielder Zach Borba that was initially ruled a trapped ball to put Lissman at first base. But after conferring, the umpires ruled that Borba had caught the ball and Cougar closer Ross Humes retired the Beavers in order.
“We had every opportunity to win that game, to come back,” OSU shortstop Darwin Barney said. “It’s tough when you don’t put yourself in situations to succeed, where we’re trying to catch up all the time. We need to instigate a little earlier and get it done. We’ve got to be a tougher ballclub.”
OSU starter Mike Stutes pitched six innings for his longest outing in three weeks, but the Cougars nicked him for five runs on nine hits and two walks as his record fell to 9-3 this season. Stutes struck out eight, but
WSU went up 1-0 in the top of the first on Simi Reynolds’ one-out run-scoring double and then loaded the bases against Stutes, but he fanned Jeff Miller and Greg Lagreid to get out of the inning. Suttmeier then gave the Cougars a 3-0 lead with his homer into the rightfield bleachers in the top of the third.
The Beavers got back within 3-2 in the bottom of the inning as Koa Kahalehoe drew a leadoff walk from WSU starter Wayne Daman Jr., then scored on Chris Hopkins’ triple to right-center;
In the fifth, Gran’s homer to left put WSU up 4-2 in the top of the inning.
Washington State bumped its lead to 5-3 in the top of the sixth as Zach Borba walked, was sacrificed to second and stole third, then scored when Travis Coulter bounced a ball up the first baseline and OSU first baseman Jordan’s Lennerton’s throw to catcher Canham didn’t quite get Borba. In the bottom of the inning, Canham drew a leadoff walk and scored on Lissman’s two-out single through the left side to get OSU within 4-3.
Washington State 5 (24-21,7-12 PAC-10) Oregon State 4 (35-12,7-9 PAC-10)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Travis Coulter dh.......... 4 0 1 1 Chris Hopkins cf........... 4 2 1 1
Paul Gran 3b............... 5 2 1 1 Darwin Barney ss........... 3 0 1 2
Simi Reynolds lf........... 5 0 3 1 Mitch Canham c............. 2 1 1 0
Jim Murphy 1b............. 0 0 0 0 Jason Ogata dh............. 4 0 1 0
Jared Prince rf............ 3 1 2 0 Jordan Lennerton 1b........ 4 0 0 0
Scott Suttmeier 1b/lf...... 3 1 2 2 Mike Lissman lf............ 4 0 2 1
Jeff Miller 2b............. 5 0 0 0 Drew George 3b............. 3 0 0 0
Josh Ashenbrenner ss...... 0 0 0 0 Dale Solomon ph........... 1 0 0 0
Greg Lagreid c............. 4 0 0 0 Koa Kahalehoe rf........... 2 1 0 0
Zach Borba cf.............. 3 1 0 0 Braden Wells ph........... 1 0 0 0
Cody Bartlett ss/2b........ 2 0 2 0 Joey Wong 2b............... 3 0 2 0
Wayne Daman Jr. p.......... 0 0 0 0 Mike Stutes p.............. 0 0 0 0
Steve Kost p.............. 0 0 0 0 Anton Maxwell p........... 0 0 0 0
Nick Cebula p............. 0 0 0 0 Mark Grbavac p............ 0 0 0 0
Ross Humes p.............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 34 5 11 5 Totals..................... 31 4 8 4
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Washington State.... 102 011 000 - 5 11 1
Oregon State........ 002 011 000 - 4 8 0
-------------------------------------------
E - Daman Jr.. DP - Wash. St. 2; Oregon St. 1. LOB - Wash. St. 10; Oregon St. 4. 2B
- Reynolds; Wong. 3B - Hopkins. HR - Gran; Suttmeier. HBP - Coulter; Prince. SH -
Suttmeier; Bartlett. SF - Barney. SB - Reynolds; Borba; Bartlett; Kahalehoe. CS -
Bartlett.
Washington State IP H R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------------
Wayne Daman Jr. W,4-4..... 5.2 7 4 3 2 3
Steve Kost ................ 0.2 1 0 0 0 2
Nick Cebula ............... 1.2 0 0 0 1 1
Ross Humes S,12........... 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------------
Mike Stutes L,9-3......... 6.0 9 5 5 2 8
Anton Maxwell ............. 0.1 1 0 0 1 0
Mark Grbavac .............. 2.2 1 0 0 1 0
HBP - by Stutes (Prince); by Grbavac (Coulter).
Umpires - HP: Chuck Lyon 1B: Dick Flaherty 3B: Kevin Gillmore
Start: 5:03 PM Time: 3:21 Attendance: 2327
