Beaver baseball sweeps Cal; retains #2 national ranking
Mandatory Credit: Dave Weaver-USA Today Sports
Oregon State’s bats came alive over the weekend, and paired with the Beaver’s stable of great pitchers, Pat Casey’s squad handily swept Cal in three games at Evans Diamond in Berkeley, CA.
The Beavers got things started with a 10-4 victory on Friday night. Michael Conforto and Dylan Davis drove in six of Oregon State’s runs, before Jeff Hendrix smashed a ninth-inning three-run homer to power the Beavers to their eighth straight win over the Golden Bears.
Ben Wetzler started the game, striking out six over 7.2 innings, with five hits and an earned run sprinkled in. It was Wetzler’s eighth win of the season (8-1). Daulton Jefferies took the loss for the Golden Bears, surrendering nine hits and six runs in six and a third innings.
On Saturday, the Beavers needed extra-innings to secure the series, their sixth in a row, racking up seven runs in the tenth, cruising to a 9-3 win. Oregon State lead for the majority of the game, until a two run eighth by the Golden Bears tied the game at 2-2. Cal had runners on first and third with one-out in the bottom of the ninth, before crafty veteran Scott Schultz rolled a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Oregon State broke the game open in the tenth, batting all the way through the lineup before Cal could record the first out of the inning. Scott Schultz snagged the win, pushing his season record to 5-2.
The Beavers, on the back of Jace Fry’s second consecutive “lights-out” start, wrapped up the sweep with a 5-0 victory on Sunday afternoon. Fry pitched a complete game, one hit shut-out of Cal in one of the most impressive starts Beaver fans have seen in recent memory.
After dominating Oregon in his last start, Fry has allowed zero runs and just two hits in his last seventeen innings, striking out seventeen batters in that stretch. The junior from Beaverton, OR earned conference Pitcher of the Week honors for his commanding performance.
Michael Conforto lead the team with a three for three day at the plate, driving in three of the Beaver’s five runs. Conforto now sits one RBI behind program record holder Andy Jarvis, who amassed 174 RBIs in his Beaver career. Teammate Dylan Davis currently sits seventh all time, with 141.
The sweep marks the 8th, 9th, and 10th consecutive victories over the Golden Bears, that now includes two road sweeps at Evans Diamond.
Beaver baseball returns to action on May 6th, in a midweek matchup against Oregon at PK Park in Eugene, OR. Oregon State swept Oregon in the two team’s last meeting in April.