Wallace, Ortiz Post Three Hits Apiece But Beavers Fall At USC
LOS ANGELES – John Wallace and Ryan Ortiz both finished with three hits and Jorge Reyes struck out a career-high nine but the Oregon State baseball team dropped the second game of its series with USC, 5-2, Saturday afternoon at Dedeaux Field.
Wallace singled in the second and eighth innings and doubled down the right-field line in the sixth for his third game of the season with three hits. He scored Oregon State’s second run of the game in the second after Jason Ogata’s first hit of the game.
Ortiz finished with three singles, a run batted in and a hit by pitch for his 15th multiple-hit game of the season.
Reyes, in his 13th start of the season, went six full innings, throwing an even 100 pitches. Six of his nine strikeouts were swinging, and he scattered four runs and six hits. He walked just two but dropped to 3-3 this season after taking the loss.
Reyes did give up two home runs – both to leadoff hitter Nick Buss. The second, a two-run shot, came in the fifth and gave USC a 4-2 lead.
Buss’ first home run came in the third and was a solo shot to the game, 2-2. Oregon State opened the game with single runs in the first and second innings.
Ortiz began the game’s scoring with a single through the right side, getting Chris Hopkins in from second. Hopkins singled to open the game and moved to second when Joey Wong bunted for a sacrifice.
Ogata made it 2-0 in favor of Oregon State (25-22 overall, 11-12 Pacific-10 Conference) in the second. Wallace began the inning with a single, and scored when Ogata doubled to right center. Ogata tried to stretch the double into a triple but was caught at third.
USC (26-26, 9-11) scored its first run of the game in the second when Derek Perren came home on a wild pitch.
The Trojans added an insurance run in the eighth and went up 5-2. Vinnie St. John reached on a two-out throwing error, stole second and scored on a single to center by Anthony Vasquez off OSU reliever Kraig Sitton.
Ryan Cook started for the Trojans and lasted seven innings, allowing eight hits and two runs. He struck out six and walked two. Cook improved to 7-4 this season. Vasquez came on in relief in the eighth and worked two scoreless innings for his first save of the season.
Oregon State finished with 11 hits off two USC pitchers. Ogata had two for his team-leading 18th multiple-hit game of the season.
Oregon State and USC conclude the three-game series Sunday at Dedeaux Field with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. Catch the game live by tuning into the Beaver Sports Network, Beaver Nation Online () and Yahoo! Sports with Mike Parker calling all the action.
OSU Notes: Game temperatures for the 1:30 p.m. PT start were 91 degrees and sunny ... Ryan Ortiz’s first-inning, run-scoring single marked his 52nd RBI of the season ... Darwin Barney (2007), Bill Rowe (2006) and Andy Jenkins (2005) are currently tied for ninth in OSU single-season history with 56 RBI ... Joe Gerber (2000) holds the all-time record with 67.
