OSU Baseball Drops Final Game To Washington State, 16-9
May 21, 2000 | Baseball
May 21, 2000
PULLMAN, Wash. - - Oregon State (28-27 overall, 9-15 Pacific-10) lost its final game of the season to Washington State 16-9 on Sunday in Pacific-10 baseball, but not before the teams combined for 30 hits and 25 runs at WSU's Bailey-Brayton field.
The Beavers, assured of their seventh winning season in eight years, rallied from a 10-3 deficit with four runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to sneak within one run of WSU at 10-9. The Cougars dashed OSU's comeback hopes, however, with a six-run assault in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away at 16-9.
Even with the loss, OSU finished higher in the Pac-10 than predicted, winning nine more games overall, and two more Pac-10 games than last season.
"We were picked to finish last and we finished sixth," OSU coach Pat Casey said. "We're happy with that. We're not happy with losing, but we're going to dwell on the things that were good with this season. We did more positive things than were expected of us, and I'm proud of our guys. We just got beat today.
"Our guys battled back to make it a 10-9 game, then we made a couple of mistakes and that's the game. That's just not the way we wanted to end (the season)," said Casey.
OSU's Freshman All-America candidate Brian Barden launched the Beavers' comeback campaign in the seventh, when he took Les McTavish's first pitch and drilled his eighth homerun of the season over the right-centerfield wall to knock in Will Hudson, who doubled in the previous at-bat, making it 10-5 with one out.
One out later, after a Joe Gerber single to left, junior outfielder Jackson Coleman homered to leftfield to make it 10-7.
After OSU reliever Chris Wilkins shut out WSU in the bottom of the seventh, OSU took advantage of a fielding error by WSU rightfielder Jordan Nilsen as Chris Biles motored home from first on an Eric Stark single. Stark took second on the error, and third on a groundout by Will Hudson, then scored OSU's final run on a Brian Barden single to bring OSU within 10-9.
WSU unleashed some power-hitting in the home half of the eighth to answer the OSU challenge when Nilsen rang up a grand slam, followed by catcher Ryan Smith's solo shot for the final of 16-9. Leftfielder/firstbaseman Ray Hattenburg went 5-for-5 on the afternoon.
OSU strung together doubles from Curtis Davis, Rod Gott, and Drew Hedges as well as an Eric Stark single in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead into the third before WSU answered with four runs for a 5-3 lead.
James Atwood started the game on the mound for the Beavers, and took a 3-1 lead into the third before allowing four runs. Atwood (3-6) went four innings, striking out three, but surrendered seven runs on 11 hits while taking the loss. Craig Hays, Mark Newell, Wilkins, and Mark McLemore combined to go the rest of the way for OSU.
Barden concluded a standout freshman campaign with his 3-for-5 performance, including his eighth homerun, a double, and three RBI. Stark and Davis had two hits apiece for OSU.
"There's a big light at the end of the tunnel for us," Casey said. "We've got some big shoes to fill, our seniors gave us a good effort. They're good people and good citizens. We also finished up the game with six freshmen on the field. We've got one of the best freshman groups in the Pac-10."
WASHINGTON STATE 16, OREGON STATE 9
Oregon State 030 000 420 - 9 12 2
Washington State 104 041 06x - 16 18 2
Atwood, Hays (5), Newell, (6), Wilkins (7), McLemore (8) and Biles. O'Brien, McTavish (8), Rivard (9) and Smith. WP- O'Brien (10-5). LP- Atwood (3-6). 2B- Hudson (OSU), Davis (OSU), Gott (OSU), Hedges (OSU), Hecker (WSU), Stevenson (WSU), Hattenburg (WSU), and Smith (WSU). HR- Barden (OSU), Coleman (OSU), Bailie (WSU), Nilsen (WSU), Smith (WSU).
HITS: Oregon State 12 (Stark 2x5, Hudson 1x4, Barden 3x5, Davis 2x4, Gerber 1x5, Gott 1x2, Coleman 1x2, Hedges 1x4), Washington State 18 (Hecker 2x4, Stevenson 1x6, Hattenburg 5x5, Bailie 2x5, Boda 2x3, Curran 2x4, Parreira 1x2, Nilsen 1x5, Smith 2x4).
RBI: Oregon State 8 (Stark 1, Barden 3, Davis 2, Gott 1, Coleman 2, Hedges), Washington State 16 (Hecker 1, Stevenson 1, Hattenburg 3, Bailie 2, Boda 1, Curran 1, Parreira 2, Nilsen 4, Smith 1).
