Ducks advance, but Cougars send Beavers into losers’ bracket
Wyatt Queen throws pitches to Washington State’s Dustin Robinson in Oregon State’s 3-2 loss to the Cougars Friday at PK Park
EUGENE — That highly anticipated matchup between the two nationally ranked baseball teams in Oregon? Not going to happen — on Saturday night, anyway.
Washington State threw a wrench in the works with a 3-2 upset of Oregon State Friday in the opener of the Eugene Regional at PK Park.
Pundits were expecting a Saturday winners’ bracket showdown between eighth-ranked Oregon State and 15th-ranked Oregon, the top two seeds in the Regional. The Cougars, behind ace pitcher Nick Lewis, were having none of it, mowing down the Beavers in Tom Glavine-like fashion.
Oregon (41-16) took care of business in the nightcap, polishing off No. 4 seed Yale 14-2 to set up a 6 p.m. Saturday dual with Washington State.
The Beavers (43-13) came in as the No. 2 seed, with a pitching staff boasting the nation’s best ERA and a collective chip on their shoulder after having been passed over for hosting a Regional. Washington State (31-26), the No. 3 seed, made the NCAA Tournament only by virtue of winning the Mountain West Conference championship. But the Cougars were the ones celebrating on the field Friday afternoon.
“I don’t think anyone in our program is shocked,” said Nathan Choate, Washington State’s third-year coach. “A lot of other people are shocked, but our players aren’t.”
Lewis — the MVP of the Mountain West this season — ran his record to 10-2 with a complete-game gem, allowing six hits over nine innings. The 6-1, 195-pound redshirt sophomore southpaw, who came in with a 3.07 ERA, struck only one Beaver batter Friday. But he walked none and was masterful in his 103-pitch outing.
“Nick pitched his butt off,” Choate said.
“I had pretty good command of all three pitches, “ Lewis said. “I was attacking the strike zone and letting the defense work.”
Lewis topped out at 88 miles per hour on his fastball, but he kept the OSU hitters off-balance. A dozen outs were recorded on flyballs.
“He just pounded the zone, threw strikes and let his defense work,” said third baseman Paul Vazquez, who hit a second-inning double and scored the Beavers’ first run. “We hit a lot of balls hard right at people, but he did a good job of working counts. He got a lot of strikes early, which got us to swing early, and we were out front on the slow stuff.”
Oregon State starter Ethan Kleinschmit was up to the task, too, working five innings of no-hit ball. But control was an issue, with two walks and three hit-by-pitch. The junior left-hander gave up an unearned run in the fourth on an errant throw to third base by catcher Jacob Galloway to a base-stealing Max Hartman, who scored on the overthrow.
The Beavers had scored a run on back-to-back doubles by Vazquez and Galloway in the second and went back ahead 2-1 on a Jacob Krieg double, a sacrifice and a sac fly by Easton Talt in the fifth.
Wazoo answered in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs and chasing Kleinschmit. Wyatt Queen came on to limit the damage with a third-out strikeout, but it was 2-2 heading to the seventh.
The Cougars scored the winning run in the eighth, starting the frame with three successive hits off Queen to go ahead 3-2. Closer Albert Robles came on with the bases loaded and no outs and slammed the door with two strikeouts and a pop-out. Over the final two innings, though, the Beavers mustered only one more baserunner — a ninth-inning double by AJ Singer — and couldn’t come through with a clutch hit to tie or win the game.
“Offensively, (the loss was about) not enough putting the ball in play, not creating enough (scoring) threat,” OSU coach Mitch Canham said. “We had moments when we hit some balls hard, but we didn’t compile enough quality at-bats back to back to back to get the job done.”
Canham, like everyone else, was impressed by Lewis.
“He did what he has done all year,” the OSU skipper said. “He has been very consistent. He has never been a big punch-out guy, but he induces weak contact. He is not afraid to use any pitch at any given time. He kept our guys off-balance.
“He comes at you. It’s not overpowering, but he executes pitches, and he wanted the ball to the end. He showed everybody a little bit of everything each at-bat, and he eliminated free bases. For our part, we had far too many of those.”
OSU pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts but also four hit-by-pitch and five walks.
“Typically, the team that gives up less free bases has a very good chance to win,” Canham said. “We have done a good job of winning that battle for the most part this year. When you don’t, you can get exposed.”
The Cougars didn’t come in feeling slighted that most expectations were for an Oregon-Oregon State clash on Saturday.
“We do a pretty good job of tuning out the noise,” Lewis said. “We know what matters is our team and the people around us, those who are supporting us.”
“We were mostly focused on us,” WSU senior right-fielder Max Hartman said. “We knew if we play good baseball, we can beat (any team) in the country. There was a lot of confidence and belief in ourselves.”
“I don’t think there was a rallying cry,” Choate added. “We have a ton of respect for Oregon State’s program. But Nick is pretty good, we play really good defense, and I thought if we played really good baseball, we would be in the game. It came down to two or three pitches, and we happened to win those.”
Oregon State now faces Yale in Saturday’s 1 p.m. elimination game and the monumental task of advancing to next weekend’s Super Regional. The Beavers must get past the Bulldogs, then win three more games through the consolation bracket on Sunday and Monday.
A year ago, the Beavers lost 6-4 to St. Mary’s in the opener of the Corvallis Regional, then piled up 50 runs in the next four games to win the Regional.
“Last year’s club worked (its) way through after a tough first game,” Canham said. “That’s the mission now. We have to put together a quality plan for what is to come tomorrow, and then execute the plan to make sure we are the last team standing at the end of this.”
Way easier said than done. Last year’s Regional was at home with an OSU team that hit .290 with 107 home runs in 65 games. This year’s Beavers are hitting .269 with 55 homers in 56 games. Ace pitcher Dax Whitney is out following Tommy John surgery and closer Roblez, who threw 40 pitches Friday, is likely unavailable until Sunday.
The pitching staff is deep, but the Beavers face long odds to duplicate the four-spot they put up to claim a Regional a year ago.
Yale, meanwhile, will have nothing to lose in Saturday’s elimination game against the Beavers.
“We have an opportunity to knock a really good Oregon State team out of the tournament,” Yale left fielder Garrett Larson said. “We’re looking forward to that.”
Oregon scored three runs in the first inning to jump in front of Yale 3-0, but it was a struggle for UO starter Cal Scolari, who threw 102 pitches in 4 1/3 innings before his departure. Yale (31-14-1) had 16 baserunners — seven hits, seven walks and two hit-by-pitch — but 12 left on base through six innings. The Bulldogs made things uncomfortable for the Ducks, trailing only 6-2 and bringing the tying run to the plate. But with the bases loaded and two out, reliever Tony Twist got Davis Hanson to pop out to end the sixth.
It was still 6-2 when Oregon redshirt freshman Naulivou Lauaki hammered a three-run homer to highlight an eight-run eighth, and the Ducks were home free.
“I’m pleased with the effort,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “I’m impressed that our guys were able to pull away late. To get the lead early was a big key, too. Happy to be 1-0 in the Regional. It’s a good start.”
Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski pronounced the Ducks’ 14-2 rout of Yale “a good start”
The first four hitters in the Oregon lineup — Ryan Cooney, Angel Laya, Drew Smith and Braydon Jaxsa — combined for 13 of the Ducks’ 18 hits. Freshmen Laya and Jaxsa had seven of the safeties. That’s not to mention Lauaki’s long ball.
“That’s a lot of hits, especially for freshmen,” Wasikowski said. “They don’t look like freshmen, or act like it tonight.”
Wasikowski is in his seventh season as Oregon coach. For the past six years, the Ducks have made a Regional or Super Regional. A first College World Series berth would be the logical next step.
“I’m excited the fans and the media want more, because that means we’re doing something right,” Wasikowski said. “Hopefully we can do something really loud.”
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