Robles Strikes Out Seven, Beavers Defeat No. 23 Arizona
CORVALLIS, Ore. – turned in a dominant performance, striking out seven in 7 2/3 innings, and went 3-for-4 as the Oregon State baseball team defeated No. 23 Arizona, 4-3, Saturday afternoon in front of a national television audience on FSN at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.
The teams played in front of a crowd of 2,729, the second-largest this season at Goss Stadium.
“It was a great atmosphere this afternoon and Tanner threw an absolutely great game,” Oregon State head coach said. “He was very effective. Lonnie and the rest of the offense really responded with 10 hits and we came through defensively as well.”
Robles picked up his third win of the season with the longest outing of his career, going 7 2/3 innings while allowing just two runs on two hits, and letting only five Arizona (28-12 overall, 7-7 Pacific-10 Conference) hitters to reach base. Robles also struck out a career-high seven while not allowing any walks.
The lefty retired the side in order in five of the seven innings he completed. The outing lowered his earned run average from 3.00 to 2.84. Since his freshman season at Cottonwood High School, the Murray, Utah native has never lost a game, going 34-0, including the three wins at OSU.
Lechelt, meanwhile, collected three hits for the third time this season. He singled and scored in the second, doubled in the sixth and reached on an infield single in the eighth.
continued his hot hitting in this series, picking up another hit to extend his streak to five games. Hopkins’ on-base abilities proved crucial for the Beavers as he scored two of Oregon State’s (19-14, 7-7 Pac-10) four runs.
Eric Ammon and both drove in runs for the Beavers.
picked up his eighth save of the year, pitching 1 1/3 innings to lock down the win for the Beavers.
Lechelt got the Beavers started on the day by singling into right field with one out in the second. After a wild pitch advanced him to second, Ammon followed up with his first double of the season, scoring Lechelt and giving the Beavers a 1-0 advantage.
After hitting T.J. Steele with a pitch to start the first, Robles settled down to retire the next nine Wildcat hitters, three by strike out. Trouble came in the fourth as the Wildcats put the first two hitters of the inning on with no outs. Oregon State recorded one out on a fielder’s choice before Dillon Baird flied out to right field to score the Bobby Coyle from third on sac fly. Colt Sedbrook followed with a double to right field that gave the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Robles quickly recovered, striking out Jon Gaston to end the inning.
Oregon State started a two-out rally in the fifth, with Hopkins reaching on a single to the left side of the infield, followed by a walk by . Ogata delivered for the Beavers with a single past the second baseman that scored Hopkins from second. Ortiz followed with a single past the first baseman to score Wells and put the Beavers back on top, 3-2.
Hopkins began the Beavers attack again in the seventh, reaching on a single to the left side and advancing to second on a passed ball. A well executed bunt by pinch-hitter gave the Beavers runners on the corners with no outs. Ogata followed by grounding into a double play that scored Hopkins and gave the Beavers a 4-2 advantage headed into the eighth.
David Coulon started for Arizona and went five full innings, scattering six hits and three runs to go along with four strikeouts. He dropped to 6-3 this season.
The Beavers will return to action on Sunday in the rubber match of their series against Arizona. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Catch the game live by tuning into the Beaver Sports Network, Beaver Nation Online () and Yahoo! Sports.
OSU Notes: extended his hitting streak to five games with a single in the fifth... Ryan Ortiz extended his hitting streak to five games as well with two singles on the day, giving him his 11th multi-hit game of the year... Ortiz made his third career start at first base, while started his eighth game at catcher on the season... ’s three hits gave him his fourth multi-hit performance of the year and third three-hit game... With today’s start, Tanner Robles has now pitched six innings or longer in his past three starts.
