Beavers blast California 12-4 in baseball
April 20, 2000 | Baseball
April 20, 2000
BERKELEY, Calif. - Thad Johnson pitched a four-hitter to help Oregon State beat California 12-4 in Pacific-10 baseball Thursday afternoon at Evans Diamond. Johnson walked two and struck out six as the Beavers (22-18 overall, 4-6 Pacific-10) won for the sixth time in their last eight games.
OSU and Cal (20-21, 8-8) continue their series Friday at 2:30 p.m. and wrap it up Saturday at 1 p.m. Both games can be heard on KLOO-AM (1340), with Friday's game joined in progress at 3 p.m.
"Cal is much better than they played today," OSU head coach Pat Casey said after Thursday's game. "They beat Southern California two-of-three here last weekend, and they should have beaten Arizona State two-of-three earlier in the year. We just had it going at the plate today."
OSU had 16 hits as Drew Hedges was 3-for-5 with a homer for the Beavers and Andy Jarvis was 3-for-6 with a double and three runs batted in. Joe Gerber was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs as he extended his hitting streak to eight games, and Brian Barden had a pair of run-scoring singles to push his hitting streak to 10 games.
"The last 10 games or so, if we've had a complaint, it was that we were leaving guys on base," Casey said. "Today, we executed well at the plate. We had some sacrifice flies, sacrifice bunts, a couple of bunts for hits, some two-out hits ..."
That made things easier for Johnson, as the junior righthander threw a complete game for the fourth time in his last five starts. Johnson had a no-hitter going through five innings as the Beavers built a 7-0 lead, and his streak of innings without allowing an earned run reached 20 before the Bears scored twice in the sixth inning.
"I didn't really have my curveball today, so I had to locate my fastball," Johnson said. "I probably had my worst curveball of the year ... our defense made some great plays for me, Brian Barden was great at third base."
Johnson also watched leftfielder Drew Hedges make a leaping catch at the wall to take an extra-base hit away from David Sark in the fifth inning, and centerfielder Eric Stark made a sliding catch to end the sixth inning without Cal getting closer than 7-2.
Johnson didn't allow a ball hit out of the infield until the fifth inning. He said that even without the curve - one of his best weapons lately - he wasn't surprised at not giving up a hit through five innings.
"They were swinging at the pitches I wanted them to," Johnson said. "I didn't really think about it (the no-hitter) at all."
Johnson also got a boost when the Beavers scored three runs off Golden Bear starter Brad Steele in the first inning.
"That takes a lot of pressure off," Johnson said. "I could tell our team was going to score some runs. I just had to stay within what I can do, and I knew I'd be okay."
One of OSU's first-inning hits was Gerber's line drive off Steele's left shoulder. Steele remained in the game, but the righthander was pulled in the second inning after allowing five runs on eight hits.
"When Steele was hit, I think that hurt them," Casey said. "It seemed to take him out of his rhythm."
Barden's single, Jarvis' double and Bryan Ingram's sacrifice fly drove in the Beavers' three runs in the first inning. A sacrifice fly by Gerber and a single by Barden plated runs in the second to give OSU a 5-0 lead.
In the fourth, Jarvis added a two-run single to make it 7-0. After Cal broke through with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, Hedges launched a two-run homer - his seventh homer of the season - to rightfield to push OSU's lead back to 9-2.
Xavier Nady had a two-run homer for California in the bottom of the eighth.
OREGON STATE 12, CALIFORNIA 4
Oregon State 320 200 221 - 12 16 0 California 000 002 020 - 4 4 0Johnson and Ingram. Steele, Cash (2), Johnson (6), Rees (8) and Tonis. WP-Johnson (4-3). LP-Steele (3-8). 2B-Gerber (OSU), Jarvis (OSU). HR-Hedges (OSU), Nady (UC).
HITS: Oregon State 16 (Hedges 3x5, Hudson 1x4, Gerber 2x3, Barden 2x6, Jarvis 3x6, Ingram 1x1, Carter 1x4, Gott 1x1, Stark 2x5), California 4 (Weiner 1x4, Callen 1x4, Nady 1x3, Hoover 1x3). RUNS BATTED IN: Oregon State 11 (Hedges 2, Gerber 2, Barden 2, Jarvis 3, Ingram 1, Gott 1), California 4 (Nady 3, Hoover 1).
