No. 23 OSU Wins Baseball Series Opener - Oregon State University Athletics

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Oregon State’s Jordan Lennerton drove in three runs and started a critical ninth-inning double play as the 23^rd-ranked Beavers beat UCLA 10-7 in Pacific-10 baseball Friday evening at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The 4-hour, 47-minute contest ended with OSU closer Eddie Kunz striking out Bruin slugger Cody Decker with the bases loaded, moving the Beavers a step closer to securing a third straight postseason berth.

The Beavers (37-16 overall, 9-13 Pac-10) and Bruins (29-25, 13-9) continue their series Saturday at 2 p.m. and then wrap up the regular season Sunday at 12 noon. Both games can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area. Live audio is available via subscription on the internet through Beaver Nation Online at , and live stats are available on .

The 64-team field for the NCAA Regionals will be announced Monday at 9:30 a.m. on ESPN. The 16 sites for the NCAA Regionals will be announced Sunday.

On Friday, the win didn’t come easily despite OSU taking a four-run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. UCLA loaded the bases with none out for leadoff hitter Jermaine Curtis, who belted a hard-hit grounder at OSU first baseman Lennerton; he stepped on the bag for the first out, then threw to catcher Mitch Canham who tagged Justin Uribe coming in from third for the second out. Kunz then hit Alden Carrithers and walked Brandon Crawford to force in a run and bring Decker – who has 13 home runs this season – to the plate representing the winning run. Kunz caught him looking at a one-ball, two-strike pitch to finish his 10th save of the season.

Oregon State’s Daniel Turpen got the win in relief, allowing one run on five hits in 3 1/3 innings to improve his record to 9-1 this season. Lennerton was 3-for-5 with a double and the three runs batted in, Joey Wong tied his career high for hits with a 3-for-5 game and Canham was 3-for-5.

OSU took a degree of control buy scoring three times in the top of the eighth inning for a 9-5 lead. Walks put Darwin Barney and Canham on second and first for Mike Lissman; Lissman chopped an infield single to UCLA third baseman Jermaine Curtis and Curtis’ throw got past first baseman Decker to allow both runners to score and send Lissman to second. Jordan Lennerton then drove a single up the middle to plate Lissman.

The Beavers had taken the lead at 6-5 with a run in the top of the seventh. Lissman walked with one out, was wild-pitched to second and scored on Lennerton’s single to left.

UCLA got a run back and put the go-ahead run on base in the bottom of the eighth inning. Brandon Crawford singled to drive in a run and the Bruins then loaded the bases with one out, and OSU turned to closer Eddie Kunz. Kunz induced a sharply-hit groundball to second baseman Joey Wong to start an inning-ending double play with the Beavers still leading 9-6.

OSU got that run back in the top of the ninth inning as Scott Santschi had an infield single and walks to Lonnie Lechelt and Wong loaded the bases with two out, then Santschi scored on a wild pitch.

Oregon State tied the game 5-5 in the top of the fifth inning as Barney, Wong and Canham hit consecutive singles to start the inning, Canham driving home Barney. Lissman sacrificed the runners to second and third, but UCLA starter Tyson Brummett got Lennerton to line out to second and Koa Kahalehoe to pop out to second to end the inning.

UCLA had gone in front 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth inning. After OSU starter Mike Stutes retired the first two Bruins, Brandon Crawford homered down the rightfield line.

The Beavers went up 4-3 with a run in the top of the third inning. Wong led off with a single and Canham singled down the rightfield line to send him to third; Lissman then lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left to score Wong.

UCLA tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the inning on Gabe Cohen’s two-out solo homer to left-centerfield. The Bruins proceeded to load the bases but second baseman Wong’s diving stop of a grounder up the middle by Ryan Babineau turned into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

Oregon State jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. With one out, Wong singled and Canham chopped a hit-and-run single over the right side to send Wong to third. Lissman then hit a grounder that UCLA shortstop Crawford bobbled, driving home Wong and leaving Canham safe at second and Lissman at first. Jordan Lennerton followed with a double to right-centerfield, scoring Canham and sending Lissman to third; Lissman then scored on John Wallace’s groundout to second to make it 3-0.

The Beavers’ three hits in the first inning matched OSU’s total for all of its final two games last weekend againstd Arizona State.

UCLA evened the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the first inning against Beaver starter Mike Stutes. With one out, Stutes hit Alden Carrithers, walked Brandon Crawford, and then got Cody Decker to lash a grounder at third baseman Drew George, who knocked the ball down but couldn’t record an out to load the bases. Stutes struck out Gabe Cohen, but then hit Will Penniall to force in the initial UCLA run. Justin Uribe followed with a bloop single to right-centerfield that drove in a pair of runs to knot the score 3-3; Penniall tried to score from first but was thrown out on a relay from centerfielder Koa Kahalehoe to second baseman Wong to catcher Canham to end the inning.

Oregon State 10 (37-16,9-13 Pac-10) UCLA 7 (29-25,13-9 Pac-10)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

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Darwin Barney ss........... 5 2 1 0 Jermaine Curtis 3b......... 6 1 1 0

Joey Wong 2b............... 5 2 3 0 Alden Carrithers 2b........ 3 1 1 0

Mitch Canham c............. 5 2 3 1 Brandon Crawford ss........ 4 2 3 3

Mike Lissman dh............ 2 3 1 2 Cody Decker 1b............. 6 1 1 0

Jordan Lennerton 1b........ 5 0 3 3 Gabe Cohen rf.............. 3 1 1 1

John Wallace lf............ 3 0 0 1 Will Penniall lf........... 4 0 2 1

Koa Kahalehoe cf........... 3 0 0 0 Justin Uribe cf............ 3 0 3 2

Braden Wells ph........... 2 0 0 0 Casey Haerther dh.......... 3 0 1 0

Scott Santschi rf.......... 3 1 2 0 Brady Dolan cf............ 1 1 1 0

Chris Hopkins cf.......... 0 0 0 0 Ryan Babineau c............ 4 0 0 0

Drew George 3b............. 1 0 0 0 Mickey Weisser ph......... 0 0 0 0

Lonnie Lechelt 3b......... 3 0 0 0 Tyson Brummett p........... 0 0 0 0

Mike Stutes p.............. 0 0 0 0 Brendan Lafferty p........ 0 0 0 0

Daniel Turpen p........... 0 0 0 0 Charles Brewer p.......... 0 0 0 0

Anton Maxwell p........... 0 0 0 0 Matt Drummond p........... 0 0 0 0

Mark Grbavac p............ 0 0 0 0 Jason Novak p............. 0 0 0 0

Eddie Kunz p.............. 0 0 0 0

Totals..................... 37 10 13 7 Totals..................... 37 7 14 7

Score by Innings R H E

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Oregon State........ 301 010 131 - 10 13 1

UCLA................ 301 100 011 - 7 14 2

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E - Lechelt; Curtis; Crawford. DP - Oregon St. 3; UCLA 2. LOB - Oregon St. 11; UCLA

15. 2B - Lennerton. HR - Crawford; Cohen. HBP - Carrithers 2; Penniall; Weisser. SH

- Lissman; Uribe. SF - Lissman.

Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO

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Mike Stutes ............... 3.2 7 5 5 3 2

Daniel Turpen W,9-1....... 3.1 5 1 1 0 1

Anton Maxwell ............. 0.0 0 0 0 1 0

Mark Grbavac .............. 0.1 1 0 0 1 0

Eddie Kunz S,10........... 1.2 1 1 1 2 1

UCLA IP H R ER BB SO

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Tyson Brummett ............ 5.2 9 5 3 3 2

Brendan Lafferty L,3-2.... 0.2 1 1 1 2 0

Charles Brewer ............ 1.1 2 3 2 2 3

Matt Drummond ............. 0.1 0 0 0 0 0

Jason Novak ............... 0.2 1 1 1 1 2

Justin Uribe .............. 0.1 0 0 0 1 1

WP - Uribe 2; Lafferty; Brewer. HBP - by Stutes (Carrithers); by Stutes (Penniall); by

Kunz (Weisser); by Kunz (Carrithers). PB - Canham 2; Babineau 2.

Umpires - HP: Jim Garman 1B: Mark Beller 3B: Kendall Snyder

Start: 6:00 pm Time: 4:47 Attendance: 722