Beavers Take Advantage Of Trojan Defensive Woes
June 11, 2005 | Baseball
June 12, 2005
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Ryan Gipson's single drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and Andy Jenkins added a three-run home run in the eighth to lead Oregon State to a 10-4 victory over error-prone Southern California on Saturday night at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.
The Beavers fell behind 4-1 early, but capitalized on eight Trojan errors for the opening advantage in the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional series.
"To me, the key to the whole thing was that we don't care how we win - we don't care if they surrendered, we don't care if we win by one or by 10 or whatever. At this point in the season, it's just go find a way to win," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "They opened the door by booting the ball and we capitalized.
"I thought we had some great at-bats - Ryan Gipson's at-bats with guys in scoring position were outstanding. Shea McFeely's play at third base where he jumps up in the air (to rob USC's Roberto Lopez of a potential extra-base hit in the fourth inning) - that's the difference between Dallas (Buck, OSU's starting pitcher) staying in the game. To Dallas' credit, after the third inning and after the conversation, they didn't touch him. He was outstanding and he allowed us to get deep into the game and save our pen.
"It was just a thing that I felt in the dugout; I never saw anybody quit. I just saw a bunch of young men who have been doing this all year long, and we do feel fortunate every time we win a game."
USC's Ian Kennedy, the Pacific-10 Conference pitcher of the year, did not allow a hit until Andy Jenkins' single in the fifth inning, but Oregon State already had narrowed it to 4-3 on sloppy Trojan play.
Shea McFeely doubled to right off Kennedy in the sixth. An out later, Cole Gillespie singled and went to second on another Trojan error. McFeely scored from third when Kennedy's wild pitch to Gipson tipped off catcher Jeff Clement's glove and he was too slow to find it.
"I knew my hand was underneath, so I was pretty sure he'd call me safe," McFeely said. "I had a pretty good jump on it and I thought I was in."
Gipson followed with his single, scoring Gillespie to make it 5-4 for Oregon State. After the game, Gipson was asked if he felt the Beavers were a team of destiny.
"Regardless of what happens, offensively, what pitchers do, we always find a way to win," Gipson said. "We have all year, so there's something like that going on."
Gipson hit a sacrifice fly and Darwin Barney had an RBI single before Jenkins' home run in the eighth.
The winner of the super regional will be among eight teams that head to Omaha, Neb., June 17-27 for the College World Series.
Oregon State (45-9) took the win in front of a sellout crowd of 3,059. The Pacific-10 Conference champions are 25-4 at home, including a three-game sweep to win the Corvallis Regional last weekend.
"I hope that continues," Casey said. "The crowd is awesome. Our guys are energized. It's a really good feeling for our guys to come out here and see how early they get to the ballpark ... it's a big-time atmosphere, and this is what you work for as an athlete, as a coach, as a university.
"They're receiving their rewards for hard work and obviously we haven't won anything yet - the only thing we've done is put ourselves in a situation where we've won one of three and somebody has to win two."
The Trojans (40-21) were ranked No. 18 and coming off a 5-2 victory over Pepperdine on Monday at the Long Beach Regional.
Kennedy (12-3) went up against Buck, who was 11-1 with a 1.97 ERA going into the game.
Buck got off to a shaky start. He gave up a base hit to Billy Hart to load the bases with one out in the first inning before walking Baron Frost to give Southern California the early lead. He hit the next batter, Hector Estrella, square in the back with a pitch to surrender another run.
Kennedy appeared to have similar jitters in the first inning. After two USC errors and some control problems allowed the Beavers to load the bases with no outs, Jenkins' sacrifice to deep left narrowed it to 2-1. Kennedy regained control and struck out the next two batters he faced to end the threat.
Blake Sharpe hit a two-run double off Buck in the third inning to make it 4-1 for the Trojans.
The Beavers scored twice in the fourth - both times on Trojan fielding errors - to close to 4-3.
Buck settled down, allowing four runs on seven hits over 7 2/3 innings. He walked five and struck out two.
"It was definitely a roller-coaster," Buck said. "It was a good atmosphere and I had a lot of adrenaline at the beginning of the game and I couldn't really find the zone like I'd like to. Then as the game went on, I got more comfortable and settled in a little bit."
Kevin Gunderson got the final four outs for his 14th save.
Kennedy allowed five runs on four hits over 5 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts.
USC boasts 12 national titles dating back to 1948. In the past seven years, the Trojans have made three trips to the College World Series.
The Beavers hadn't even visited the postseason since 1986. And they haven't been to Omaha since 1952, when they lost to Duke and Texas.
Tickets to the game sold out within a few hours on Tuesday. Fans who couldn't get in to Goss Stadium at Coleman Field stood on trucks parked beyond the outfield, and stole peeks through gaps in the fence. One enterprising fan brought a ladder for a perch.
Southern California 4 (40-21) Oregon State 10 (45-9)Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Zack Kalter cf............. 3 1 0 0 Jacoby Ellsbury cf......... 4 2 0 0 Matt Cusick 1b............. 4 0 0 0 Tyler Graham lf............ 5 1 0 0 Jeff Clement c............. 5 2 2 0 Darwin Barney ss........... 4 1 1 1 Billy Hart 3b.............. 4 1 4 0 Andy Jenkins 1b............ 4 2 2 4 Baron Frost dh............. 3 0 1 1 Mitch Canham c............. 4 0 1 0 Blake Sharpe ss............ 4 0 2 2 Shea McFeely 3b............ 4 1 1 0 Hector Estrella 2b......... 4 0 0 1 Geoff Wagner dh............ 1 1 0 0 Darin Vieira lf............ 3 0 0 0 Mike Lissman ph........... 1 0 0 0 Lucas Duda ph............. 1 0 0 0 Chris Campos ph........... 0 0 0 0 Dale Legaspi lf........... 0 0 0 0 Lonnie Lechelt pr......... 0 1 0 0 Roberto Lopez rf........... 3 0 0 0 Cole Gillespie rf.......... 3 1 1 0 Ian Kennedy p.............. 0 0 0 0 Danny Anderson rf......... 1 0 0 0 Michael Friedman p........ 0 0 0 0 Ryan Gipson 2b............. 3 0 1 3 Steve Martlaro p.......... 0 0 0 0 Chris Kunda 2b............ 0 0 0 0 Josh Fogel p.............. 0 0 0 0 Dallas Buck p.............. 0 0 0 0 Kevin Gunderson p......... 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 34 4 9 4 Totals..................... 34 10 7 8
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Southern California. 202 000 000 - 4 9 8 Oregon State........ 100 202 05X - 10 7 0 -------------------------------------------
E - Cusick; Hart; Sharpe 3; Estrella; Legaspi; Martlaro. DP - So. Calif. 1; Oregon St. 1. LOB - So. Calif. 12; Oregon St. 7. 2B - McFeely. 3B - Hart. HR - Jenkins. HBP - Frost; Sharpe; Estrella; Barney. SF - Jenkins; Gipson. SB - Graham; Barney; Canham; Gipson.
Southern California IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Ian Kennedy L,12-3........ 5.1 4 5 1 2 8 Michael Friedman .......... 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 Steve Martlaro ............ 2.0 2 4 0 2 1 Josh Fogel ................ 0.1 1 1 1 0 0
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Dallas Buck W,12-1........ 7.2 7 4 4 6 2 Kevin Gunderson S,14...... 1.1 2 0 0 0 2
WP - Kennedy. HBP - by Buck (Estrella); by Kennedy (Barney); by Buck (Frost); by Buck (Sharpe).
Umpires - HP: A.J. Lostaglio 1B: Scott Erby 2B: Scott Graham 3B: Tony Maners Start: 7:11 PM Time: 3:44 Attendance: 3059
