Beavs take series from UCLA

Just when you think the Oregon State baseball team’s luck is about to run out, a player goes above and beyond to elevate themselves and the team to another level. In no way was that more evident then on Mother’s Day 2008 where sophomore Ryan Ortiz hit a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel Oregon State (24-19, 11-10) past UCLA (25-23, 8-10) in the third and deciding game of the series 8-7.

Ortiz came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and the Beavers trailing 7-4. After nearly fouling out down the right field line, Ortiz crushed the 0-1 fastball over the left-center fence for the eventual game winner.

“That had to be the biggest homerun I’ve hit in my life,” Ortiz said. “I was confident and I saw the ball well. He threw another fastball and I got the hit.”

Early on it looked as though the Beavers would not need any late game heroics as Oregon State jumped out to an early lead in the second inning. Braden Wells hit a sacrifice fly that scored Lonnie Lechelt and Joey Wong followed up with an RBI single that brought in Drew George and the Beavers led 2-0 after the second.

The Bruins battled back and after scoring a run in the third on a fielder’s choice, the Bruins bats came alive in the fourth. Oregon State starter Jorge Reyes looked good early on, but gave up four consecutive hits to start the inning including a two run home run by designated hitter Cody Decker that ended up knocking Reyes out of the game.

Mark Grbavac entered in relief of Reyes and picked up right where he left off. Grbavac walked the first batter and threw a wild pitch all before the first out of the inning. A strikeout finally broke the streak before a single up the middle by Ryan Babineau made the score 6-2 Bruins. Grbavac would calm down as he ended up going 3 1/3 innings allowing two runs on four hits with five strikeouts.

The Beavers responded in the bottom half of the fourth with a couple of runs themselves. Wong hit an RBI single to score Wells from second and with two outs Ortiz hit an RBI double in the right center gap scoring Chris Hopkins to cut the lead to 6-4.

The Bruins added another run in the sixth and brought a 7-4 lead with them headed into the bottom of the eighth.

John Wallace led off the inning with a pinch hit single and Jordan Lennerton followed with a pinch hit walk and the Beavers had two on with no outs. Wong advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt and Danny Robertson was hit by a pitch in the foot to load the bases with one out.

Chris Hopkins stepped to the plate but was unable to come through as he popped one up in the infield and the Beavers were down to their last out in the eighth. Ortiz stepped to the plate and with the first pitch he hit a fly ball down the line that UCLA right fielder Raul Duran could not come up with. With a second chance Ortiz took advantage and drilled a line drive towards the parking lot in left center field to give the Beavers a lead they would never give up.

Kevin Rhoderick came in for the save in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory for the Beavers giving them a huge win in their last Pac-10 home series of the season.

“I just went crazy,” Wong said. “It’s one of those times where you just gotta let loose…it’s one of the greatest moments I’ve had in baseball, seeing that thing get out of here.”

The win gave the Beavers a much needed conference series win and it put Oregon State above .500 in conference play with one series remaining. Having a winning record in the Pac-10 will be a big factor when playoff berths are handed out in a few weeks.

“It was a big win for us,” coach Pat Casey said. “Pac-10 wins are hard to come by and (UCLA) is extremely talented.”

The Oregon State bullpen was once again big for Oregon State as Grbavac, Kraig Sitton, Taylor Starr and Rhoderick combined to go six innings, allowing only two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts. Starr got the win improving to 3 and 1 on the season and Rhoderick picked up his 11^th save.

“The bullpen came in and held us,” Casey said. “I thought they were fantastic. Grbavac did a great job.”

Wong ended up going 2 for 3 with two RBI’s and Ortiz was 2 for 5 with a double, grand slam and five RBI’s.

The win gave Oregon State a 2-1 series win after the Beavers won the first game in blowout fashion 10-1 behind Mike Stutes best start of the season. Stutes pitched a complete game allowing only one run on four hits with nine strikeouts. UCLA had no answer for the senior as he threw 134 pitches and dominated the Bruins from start to finish for his third win of the season. Erik Ammon went 2 for 3 with three RBI’s and Hopkins was 2 for 3 with two walks.

Game two was quite the opposite as UCLA pounded out 12 hits and knocked Oregon State starter Tanner Robles out in the first inning en route to a 11-4 win. The Beavers only had five hits and were down for most of the game. Lonnie Lechelt hit his fourth home run of the season and Jason Ogata was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

The Beavers now find themselves within sight of their fourth consecutive postseason berth and can take it a step further in the next two days as they host Utah Valley State for a two game series starting today. The team is not worried about that just yet as they know it is not time to be thinking about the playoffs just yet.

“When the season is all over and said and done, some people will make some determinations as to where we play,” Casey said. “Obviously we are one of the best 20 teams in the nation as is UCLA, but the selection committee doesn’t work that way and we just gotta go out and play the games.”

Today’s game starts at 6 p.m.