Mathews Just Misses Cycle In Win
March 19, 2004 | Baseball
March 19, 2004
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Aaron Mathews went 4-for-4 with a double, a triple and four runs batted in to help Oregon State to an 11-5 win over Utah Valley State in non-league baseball Friday afternoon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. Jake Postlewait pitched his fifth win of the season after surviving a four-run top of the first inning for OSU (13-5 overall).
The Beavers and Wolverines (2-8) continue their series Saturday at 1 p.m. and conclude it Sunday at 1 p.m.
Mathews doubled, singled and tripled in his first three trips to the plate and had two tries at hitting a home run to complete the cycle; he singled and walked in his last two appearances. Was he thinking about the homer?
"A little bit," said Mathews, whose batting average jumped from .348 to .384 over the course of the game. "I just wanted to get on again and get another hit. He really didn't give me a pitch to hit. I hit for the cycle in high school a couple times. Hopefully it happens again this year; hitting for the cycle is pretty good."
In his last five games, Mathews is 11-for-20 with RBIs, two doubles and two triples. His two-run double and run-scoring singles by Mike Hass and Tony Calderon tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the first inning, then the Beavers took the lead at 6-4 when Chad Schroeder's two-out grounder was thrown away by UVSC shortstop Dylan Priest and both Tony Calderon and Paul Richie scored on the play.
Utah Valley State, playing its first season in NCAA Division I after competing as a junior college last season, had surprised the Beavers with four two-out runs on five hits - including Trent Perry's homer and Reno Mendenhall's three-run double - in the top of the first inning.
"I think those four runs they put up were the best thing that could happen to us," Mathews said. "I think that opened some eyes - for guys in the bullpen and for us in the field, all of us playing." After OSU took the lead in the bottom of the first, Postlewait pitched four scoreless innings to improve to 5-0 this season; it was his 10th win in 11 decisions over the past two seasons. He allowed nine hits and two walks while striking out four, and got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third inning.
"Jake's always going to compete, and he competed well," Oregon State head coach Pat Casey said of the senior lefthander. He didn't have his best stuff but he competed like always. He got the win and he'll be better for it; hopefully we'll be a better club by understanding some of the things we have to do to execute."
The Beavers outhit the Wolverines 15-12 and were errorless in the field, but Oregon State left 12 runners on base.
"We need to play better baseball," Casey said. "I don't think we executed in some situations, I don't think we hit with people on base. I thought they (UVSC) battled really well and played well. You're not always going to have your best stuff and you're not always going to be on top of your game, but if we can execute in other areas, we'd have been a lot better off. I just thought we could never really get over the hump; we struggled and struggled and struggled. It comes down to the little things, and we just didn't do a very good job with some of the little things."
OSU made it 7-4 on Jacoby Ellsbury's run-scoring single to centerfield in the third inning and tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning on Mathews' two-run triple to centerfield and Calderon's sacrifice fly for a 10-4 lead.
Ellsbury, Andy Jenkins, Paul Richie and Schroeder all had two hits each for the Beavers. After Postlewait got through the fifth inning, Jonah Nickerson allowed just one on three hits in his two innings of work and Kyle Aselton and Dallas Buck both pitched a scoreless inning to finish the game.
For UVSC, Daniel Bulow and Canyon Vance had three hits each, with Bulow's solo homer in the seventh inning accounting for the Wolverines' final run. Senior righthander Jason Ward took the loss, pitching 3 2/3 innings and allowing 10 runs (eight earned) on 13 hits and one walk while striking out two.
OREGON STATE 11, UTAH VALLEY STATE 5
Utah Valley State 400 000 100 - 5 12 3 Oregon State 601 300 10x - 11 15 0Ward, Sorensen (4), Larsen (7) and Broadhead. Postlewait, Nickerson (6), Aselton (8), Buck (9) and Richie, Munich (9). W-Postlewait (5-0). L-Ward (1-2). 2B-Mendenhall (UVSC), Mathews (OSU). 3B-Mathews (OSU). HR-Perry (UVSC), Bulow (UVSC).
HITS: Utah Valley State 12 (Hashimoto 1x3, Perry 1x4, Bulow 3x5, Vance 3x5, Van Dyken 1x2, Mendenhall 2x4, Priest 1x3), Oregon State 15 (Ellsbury 2x6, Hass 1x5, Jenkins 2x3, Campos 1x3, Mathews 4x4, Calderon 1x4, Richie 2x4, Schroeder 2x4). RUNS BATTED IN: Utah Valley State 5 (Perry 1, Bulow 1, Mendenhall 3), Oregon State 8 (Ellsbury 1, Hass 1, Mathews 4, Calderon 2).
Utah Valley State 5 Oregon State 11Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Kevin Hashimoto lf......... 3 0 1 0 Jacoby Ellsbury rf......... 6 1 2 1 Ryan K. Jones 2b........... 5 0 0 0 Mike Hass dh............... 5 1 1 1 Trent Perry 1b............. 4 1 1 1 Mike Lissman ph........... 1 0 0 0 Daniel Bulow dh............ 5 2 3 1 Andy Jenkins 1b............ 3 2 2 0 Canyon Vance cf............ 5 1 3 0 Chris Campos lf............ 3 2 1 0 Sam Van Dyken rf........... 2 1 1 0 Tyler Graham pr/lf........ 0 0 0 0 Jed Jensen ph/rf.......... 1 0 0 0 Shea McFeely 3b............ 5 1 0 0 Reno Mendenhall 3b......... 4 0 2 3 Aaron Mathews cf........... 4 1 4 4 Dylan Priest ss............ 3 0 1 0 Tony Calderon ss........... 4 1 1 2 Jeremy Harris ss.......... 1 0 0 0 Paul Richie c.............. 4 2 2 0 Jeff Broadhead c........... 4 0 0 0 Bryan Stone pr............ 0 0 0 0 Jason Ward p............... 0 0 0 0 Billy Munich c............ 0 0 0 0 Adam Sorensen p........... 0 0 0 0 Chad Schroeder 2b.......... 4 0 2 0 Derek Larsen p............ 0 0 0 0 Jake Postlewait p.......... 0 0 0 0 Jonah Nickerson p......... 0 0 0 0 Kyle Aselton p............ 0 0 0 0 Dallas Buck p............. 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 37 5 12 5 Totals..................... 39 11 15 8
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Utah Valley State... 400 000 100 - 5 12 3 Oregon State........ 601 300 10X - 11 15 0 -------------------------------------------
E - Mendenhall; Priest 2. DP - Utah Vy. St. 2. LOB - Utah Vy. St. 9; Oregon St. 12. 2B - Mendenhall; Mathews. 3B - Mathews. HR - Perry; Bulow. HBP - Jenkins; Campos. SF - Calderon. SB - Hashimoto 2; Vance; Ellsbury; Richie; Stone. CS - Hashimoto; Priest.
Utah Valley State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Jason Ward L,1-2.......... 3.2 13 10 8 1 2 Adam Sorensen ............. 2.1 2 0 0 1 1 Derek Larsen .............. 2.0 0 1 1 3 1
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Jake Postlewait W,5-0..... 5.0 9 4 4 2 4 Jonah Nickerson ........... 2.0 3 1 1 1 3 Kyle Aselton .............. 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 Dallas Buck ............... 1.0 0 0 0 1 1
WP - Larsen. HBP - by Ward (Campos); by Larsen (Jenkins).
Umpires - HP: Randy Knuths 1B: Todd Ellis 3B: Terry Fischer Start: 3:06 pm Time: 3:04 Attendance: 464
