Oregon State
Cal Poly
Pitsch Knocks Off Nation's No. 9
February 06, 2004 | Wrestling
Feb. 6, 2004
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Oregon State 184-pounder Dan Pitsch earned a major decision over the nation's ninth-ranked wrestler and 165-pounder Matt Ellis and 174-pounder Jed Pennell both won their 10th straight matches Friday night as the Beavers beat 25th-ranked Cal Poly 22-12 in Pacific-10 wrestling at Mott Gym. OSU (9-5 overall, 5-1 Pac-10) won for the eighth time in its last 10 dual meets, bouncing back from last Saturday's 17-16 home loss to unranked Wyoming.
"Hopefully, that was a lesson well-learned," OSU head coach Joe Wells said of the loss to the Cowboys. "We looked aggressive; we got after it and they didn't."
Against the Mustangs (5-7, 2-3), Pitsch took a 10-2 win over Ryan Halsey, who was ranked first in the Pac-10 and ninth nationally by Amateur Wrestling News and 10th nationally by InterMat, giving OSU a 13-0 lead three matches into the dual.
"Their styles kind of clash," Wells said of Pitsch and Halsey. "Dan is long and tall and powerful, and Halsey is compact and powerful. But I think Dan really exposed some things in Halsey's wrestling style."
Ellis started the meet with an 11-3 major decision over Erik Shortenhaus, then Jed Pennell followed with a 21-5 technical fall of Sam Tenko in 6:00.
"Matt worked real hard to score that major decision," Wells said. "The guy he was wrestling was kind of a cling-on, so it was difficult. I think it's a good lesson for us; we've got to be more precise and more demonstrative and have better control.
"Then Jed did a real nice job in his match. He got points and he got them in a hurry ... he took his time to get them, but he was initiating a lot of offense, a lot of strikes. He was moving forward and that was a big difference. That set the tone for the rest of the meet - it told the guys they've got to go out there and wrestle."
Pitsch, ranked third in the Pac-10, won his ninth straight match to improve to 14-8 with two pins this season. Ellis, ranked 16th nationally by AWN and first in the Pac-10, is now 21-6 with one pin; Pennell, ranked 14th nationally by AWN and first in the Pac-10, is 19-6 with six pins.
After the Beavers' fast start, Cal Poly won four of the next five matches, a string broken only by heavyweight Jamie Rakevich's 3-2 win over Arturo Basulto, to pull within 16-12. That left the Mustangs in position to pull out a win with the final two matches.
At 149 pounds, OSU's Tony Hook trailed Matt Cox - ranked second in the Pac-10 - midway through the third period; Hook tried to reverse Cox near the edge of the mat and both wrestlers went out of bounds. Hook was awarded one point for an escape and Cox was called for fleeing the mat, with the penalty point giving Hook enough for a 2-1 win and wrapping up the dual for the Beavers.
OSU 157-pounder Orlando Perez finished the night by beating Keith Kroeger 8-6 in overtime. OSU won six of the dual's 10 matches, but scored team bonus points in three of their wins while the Mustangs scored none.
OREGON STATE 22, NO. 25 CAL POLY 12
(Amateur Wrestling News national rankings in parentheses)
165-(16) Matt Ellis, OSU, major dec. Erik Shortenhaus, CPU, 11-3. 174-(14) Jed Pennell, OSU, tech. fall over Sam Tenko, CPU, 6:00 (21-5). 184-Dan Pitsch, OSU, major dec. (9) Ryan Halsey, CPU, 10-2. 197-Ralph Garcia, CPU, dec. Curt Willener, OSU, 5-2. HWT-Jamie Rakevich, OSU, dec. Arturo Basulto, CPU, 3-2. 125-(6) Vic Moreno, CPU, dec. Eric Stevenson, OSU, 11-4. 133-(7) Darrell Vasquez, CPU, dec. Tim Norman, OSU, 6-4. 141-Steve Esparza, CPU, dec. Kyle Larson, OSU, 5-1. 149-Tony Hook, OSU, dec. Matt Cox, CPU, 2-1. 157-Orlando Perez, OSU, dec. Keith Kroeger, CPU, 8-6 (OT).
