Beavers Rally For 6-3 Victory
April 28, 2000 | Baseball
April 28, 2000
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Thad Johnson didn't allow a run over the final eight innings and Oregon State rallied to beat Washington 6-3 in Pacific-10 baseball Friday afternoon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. The Beavers (25-19 overall, 6-7 Pacific-10) scored five runs in their final four at-bats as they won for the eighth time in their last 10 games.
OSU and Washington (19-22, 3-10) continue their series Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games can be heard on KLOO-AM (1340).
Johnson gave up three runs in the first inning on a walk, a hit batter, a wild pitch and Todd Linden's two-run double. The junior righthander then settled in to toss a five-hitter, walking three and striking out six, to keep the game close until Oregon State began scoring in the middle innings off UW ace Jeff Carlsen.
"That's a sign our club has matured since the beginning of the season," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "Then, giving up those three runs in the first inning would have bothered us. Now, our guys have enough confidence in themselves that it didn't bother them."
The start of the game was delayed 25 minutes by rain, but Johnson wasn't sure if that affected his start.
"I couldn't find the strike zone at first," said Johnson, who pitched a complete game for the fifth time in his last six starts. "After that, I slowed myself down and got into a good rhythm. Eric Stark's catch in the first inning got me going a bit. I knew I had those guys back there for me - they weren't going to fold, and we chipped away at them."
Stark made a diving grab in centerfield on a line drive by Michael Done to end the top of the first inning, and Johnson then scattered four singles by the Huskies over the final eight innings. The Beavers - who saw eight of their nine hits in the game go for extra bases - squandered scoring chances with baserunning blunders twice in the first four innings but got within 3-2 on back-to-back doubles by Drew Hedges and Will Hudson in the fifth inning.
Brian Barden drove a towering home run to leftfield to lead off the bottom of the sixth and tie the score at 3-3. Barden had doubled in the fourth inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
"Thad hung with it, and we kept chipping away at them," Casey said. "We could have scored a couple more runs in places. I was proud of the guys and how they hung in there ... we never had a big inning, but we never folded."
OSU went in front 5-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh. Stark started the rally when he was hit by Carlsen's first pitch of the inning, then Drew Hedges singled up the middle.
Will Hudson's bunt was good enough to move the runners to second and third, and on the play Carlsen threw the ball up the first-base line and Stark scored with Hedges reaching third and Hudson second. OSU would add just one more run in the inning, though, on Andy Jarvis' sacrifice fly to center.
"We've been hitting so well, I knew we'd come around," said Johnson, who lasted into just the second inning of OSU's 13-9 non-league win at Washington on March 4. "The guys kind of woke up."
OSU's Zach Gordon homered to left-centerfield with one out in the eighth to add an insurance run. It was Gordon's team-leading ninth homer of the year and his third of the season against the Huskies, he'd homered twice in the Beavers' 27-4 win in Seattle on March 5.
Washington rallied in the ninth, as Tyler Davidson singled up the middle and pinch-hitter Bryan Johnson sent a drive toward the leftfield wall. But Rod Gott, who had gone into left that inning replacing Hedges, leaped against the fence and made the catch for the second out. That prevented the tying run from coming to the plate, and Johnson got Matt Hollod to ground out to end the game.
"Thad did a great job," Casey said. "He's a competitor. I think that first inning would have affected him earlier this season, but he handles it well now."
OREGON STATE 6, WASHINGTON 3
Washington 300 000 000 - 3 5 2 Oregon State 001 011 21x - 6 9 1Carlsen, McCoy (8) and Thiel. Johnson and Ingram. WP-Johnson (5-3). LP-Carlsen (5-2). 2B-Linden (UW), Hedges (OSU), Hudson (OSU), Gerber (OSU), Barden (OSU), Ingram (OSU). 3B-Stark (OSU). HR-Barden (OSU), Gordon (OSU).
HITS: Washington 5 (Rittenhouse 1x3, Erickson 1x3, Linden 2x3, Davidson 1x3), Oregon State 9 (Hedges 2x4, Hudson 1x3, Gerber 1x3, Barden 2x4, Ingram 1x4, Gordon 1x4, Stark 1x3). RUNS BATTED IN: Washington 3 (Linden 2, Garthwaite 1), Oregon State 5 (Hedges 1, Hudson 1, Barden 1, Jarvis 1, Gordon 1).
Washington 3 (19-22,3-10 PAC-10) Oregon State 6 (25-19,6-7 PAC-10)Name (Pos) AB R H BI BB K PO A Name (Pos) AB R H BI BB K PO A ---------------------------------- ------------------------------- Rittenhouse 2b..3 1 1 0 1 2 0 1 Hedges lf....4 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 Reynolds ss.....4 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 Gott ph/lf..1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erickson 1b.....3 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 Hudson ss....3 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 Linden lf.......3 1 2 2 1 1 3 0 Gerber 1b....3 0 1 0 1 1 12 1 Garthwaite dh...4 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Barden 3b....4 1 2 1 0 1 0 3 Done 3b.........4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jarvis dh....3 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Davidson rf.....3 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 Ingram c.....4 0 1 0 0 1 6 0 Thiel c.........3 0 0 0 0 1 10 0 Carter rf....4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Johnson ph.....1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gordon 2b....4 1 1 1 0 3 3 4 Hollod cf.......4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Stark cf.....3 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 Carlsen p.......0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Johnson p....0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 McCoy p........0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals.........32 3 5 3 3 6 24 4 Totals......33 6 9 5 1 9 27 12
Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Washington 300 000 000 - 3 5 2 Oregon State 001 011 21 - 6 9 1 ----------------------------------------------
E - Done, Carlsen, Hudson. DP - Oregon St. 1. LOB - Washington 6, Oregon St. 7. 2B - Linden, Hedges, Hudson, Gerber, Barden, Ingram. 3B - Stark. HR - Barden, Gordon. SB - Linden. SH - Hudson. SF - Jarvis.
Washington IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Carlsen...7.1 9 6 4 1 8 31 35 Johnson.... 9.0 5 3 3 3 6 32 36 McCoy.....0.2 0 0 0 0 1 2 2
Win - Johnson 5-3. Loss - Carlsen 5-2. Save - None. WP - Carlsen, Johnson. HBP - by Johnson (Erickson), by Carlsen (Stark). Umpires - Home:Dwayne Finley 1st:Gus Rodriguez 3rd:Roarke Kominek Start: 3:25 pm Time: 2:33 Attendance: 440
