Beavers Tie School Home Run Record In Win
KEIZER, Ore. – Jeff Hendrix and KJ Harrison each hit two home runs to to pace the 19th-ranked Oregon State baseball team to a 20-0 win over Portland Wednesday at Volcanoes Stadium.
Kyle Nobach, Logan Ice and Joe Gillette all hit home runs as well to give the team seven on the night, tying the school record set most recently in 2001 against Washington. It was originally set in 2000 against Portland.
Hendrix hit a two-run home run in the fourth, followed by a solo shot in the sixth. Harrison followed Hendrix’s sixth-inning with a solo shot of his own, then drove in three more with a blast that hugged the foul line in left.
The duo join the long list of Beavers to have two homer games, which was most recently achieved by Michael Conforto against UCLA last season.
Nobach opened the game’s scoring with a two-run home run to left in the second inning. The shot was the second of his season and first since Feb. 28.
The Beavers (33-14-1 overall) tacked on five more in the third. Billy King made it 5-0 when he singled, and three runs scored when the right fielder let the ball roll to the fence. Nobach and Michael Gretler also singled home in the inning, enabling the Beavers to jump out to a seven-run lead.
Hendrix, who extended his hit streak to 15 games with a single in the first inning, extended the Beavers’ lead to 9-0 with his own two-run blast in the fourth. It was his fifth of the season – at the time - and first since March 6 against Fresno State.
Hendrix’s sixth of the season preceeded Harrison’s eighth of the season. Those two home runs highlighted a five-run inning that was punctuated by a three-run double by Christian Donahue to make it 14-0 in favor of the Beavers.
Ice continued the home run explosion with a two-run blast in the seventh, followed by a pinch-hit solo home run by Joe Gillette in the ninth.
Sam Tweedt was the recipient of the offensive outburst, throwing six scoreless innings to get the win and improve to 8-1 on the year. He allowed six hits with two strikeouts and no walks and lowered his earned run average to 2.41 in the process.
Harrison led the Beavers with four RBI, followed by Donahue, Hendrix and Nobach, who all had three.
Jordan Wilcox started for Portland (10-41) allowed nine hits and seven runs in three innings to take the loss. He dropped to 1-5 on the year.
The game was the third and final meeting of the season between the teams; Oregon State won its 24th straight over the Pilots.
Oregon State now turns its attention to Stanford for a three-game series at Sunken Diamond. The series opens Friday night at 7:05 p.m. PT, followed by game two Saturday, also at 7:05 p.m. The finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
All three games will be live on the Pac-12 Networks. They will also be carried over the airwaves on the Beaver Sports Radio Network and the TuneIn application.
For more information on the Oregon State baseball team, follow the club’s official Twitter account at Twitter.com/Beaver_Baseball, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateBaseball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverBaseball.
