Beavers score seven runs in first inning to knock off Dons

By Brooks Hatch
Corvallis Gazette-Times

CORVALLIS — Oregon State sophomore right fielder John Wallace hadn’t homered in nearly two years when he came up with runners at the corners and two outs in the first inning of Saturday’s game against San Francisco.

Moments later, that drought ended in impressive fashion when he drilled a three-run shot well over the right-field fence to double OSU’s early 3-0 lead. It was the highlight blow in a seven-run rally that keyed OSU’s (19-3) eighth consecutive victory, a 9-2 verdict over the Dons (9-11) before a sun-drenched crowd of 2,028 at Goss Stadium.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Wallace, who nudged his average up 25 points to .311 with a 2-for-3 day. “This year I’ve come close a couple times, hit some balls off the wall.

“It just felt great to finally put one out in front of the home fans. They came out and hit one,” in the top of the first, “so it was big for us to come out and spark the offense quick. I was just glad I could ignite it there.”

OSU starter Joe Paterson flirted with danger nearly every inning. He retired the side in order only once, but escaped trouble often enough to hand a 7-2 lead over to the bullpen entering the seventh. Freshman Jorge Reyes and sophomore Mark Grbavac finished up with three frames to continue that unit’s stellar season.

The bullpen has a 2.62 combined ERA, six saves and hasn’t allowed a run in 11 consecutive innings over the past seven games.

“Every guy in the bullpen could be in any role. It’s a great staff,” said Reyes, who tied junior closer Eddie Kunz for the team lead with his ninth appearance. “I knew coming in I had a lot of work to do because of the kind of staffs (pitching coach Dan Spencer) has been putting out.

“I didn’t think I’d pitch this much, and it’s surprised a lot of people.”

Wallace gave the Beavers a similar lift in their 2006 national-championship run. He started the final two-thirds of the year, hit. 326, and had three hits, two runs and an RBI in the back-to-back wins over North Carolina for the title. His two hits on Saturday gave him four in the last three games and put him back above .300.

“Last year I was new, a freshman. This year I’m more comfortable with the program and it’s really helped,” Wallace said. “We have a lot of depth we’ve been mixing it up a lot,” as senior left fielder Mike Lissman is the only outfielder to start all 21 games.

“So when I get my opportunity I’m ready, and I’ve been feeling pretty good up there lately.”

Added junior catcher Mitch Canham: “John is starting to swing it and he’s heating up.”

All seven first-inning runs came with two outs; Jason Ogata hit a two-run single, Jordan Lennerton had an RBI single and Darwin Barney an RBI triple to complement Wallace’s three-run shot. OSU then had just one hit until the seventh, when Lissman doubled and Canham homered for the third time in his last four games.

“We did a nice job right out of the chute,” OSU coach Pat Casey said. “(Reliever Cole Stipovich) came in and did a nice job. We were hoping we’d be a little more consistent in the middle innings; he kept us off-balance, but it was a good win.”

The series concludes at noon today. Projected starters are two junior right-handers, Tommy Peale (0-0, 0.00) for the Dons and Daniel Turpen (5-0, 2.48) for the Beavers.

OSU’s eight-game winning streak is its longest since a 10-gamer in 2005. Its best such streak in 2006 was seven games.

“A lot of people thought we just might be a one-year team,” Wallace said. “We’ve got a lot of great new guys, a lot of good pitching and no one on the team is surprised because we knew we could be good again.

“We’re just trying to get back to the top of the Pac-10 and hopefully to Omaha again.”

Oregon State 9, San Francisco 2

SAN FRANCISCO 100 010 000 — 2 9 0

OREGON STATE 700 000 20x — 9 10 0

Dufloth, Stipovich (3), Muller (7) and Morales. Paterson, Reyes (7), Grbavac (9) and Canham. WP: Patterson (4-1). LP: Dufloth (3-3). 2B: Poppert 2 (USF), Sommer (USF), Lissman (OSU). 3B: Barney (OSU). HR: Knoble (USF), Canham (OSU), Wallace (OSU)

Hits: USF 9 (Poppert 2, Bialosky 2, Knoble, Railey, Sommer, Morales, DeLong). OSU 10 (Canham 2, Wallace 2, Barney, Lissman, Ogata, Lennerton, Wong, Lechelt)

RBIs: USF 2 (Knoble 2). OSU 9 (Wallace 3, Canham 2, Ogata 2, Barney, Lennerton)