Beaver Baseball sweeps regular season match-ups against the Ducks

Oregon+State+junior+outfielder%2Finfielder+Jacob+Melton+rounding+the+bases+after+hitting+a+home+run+against+the+University+of+Oregon+Ducks+on+May+8+in+Corvallis%2C+Ore.+Melton+went+7-11+and+hit+two+home+runs%2C+which+helped+the+Beavers+win+the+game+5-0%2C+and+sweep+the+in-state+rival.+

Jason May

Oregon State junior outfielder/infielder Jacob Melton rounding the bases after hitting a home run against the University of Oregon Ducks on May 8 in Corvallis, Ore. Melton went 7-11 and hit two home runs, which helped the Beavers win the game 5-0, and sweep the in-state rival.

The Oregon State Beavers shut out the Oregon Ducks, winning 4-0 on Sunday. This win completes a five-game sweep of their in-state rivals during the regular season.

Prior to the first pitch being thrown it was another celebratory event as both Oregon State and Oregon baseball players lined up on the field to give their mothers flowers in celebration of Mother’s Day, with 3,938 fans in attendance at Goss Stadium.

“As you saw when everyone was lined up before the game, all the moms getting to come out and stand next to their sons for the anthem, it was a pretty special moment, big warm embraces right there, for both sides to have it and giving their mothers flowers,” said head baseball coach Mitch Canham. “Hopefully they’re going to go home the rest of the day and spoil their moms and express extreme gratitude for everything that they’ve done.”

With the players mothers present at the game it provided even more energy on top of the Beavers opportunity to sweep their in-state rival.

“With Mother’s Day I think it provided a little extra energy, even in pregame, you could see there was good buzz going on there,” Canham said of the pre-game energy.

Early on it was a stalemate with both pitchers for the Beavers and Ducks each leaving runners stranded on base through the first three innings of the game.  After the top of the fourth inning concluded, Oregon State junior infielder Matthew Grettler broke open the stalemate with a two-run home run to center field, giving the Beavers a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th inning.

Canham said of Grettler’s performance in Sunday’s game, “Grettler not only hit a home run but putting down to bunt when he needs to, moving runners, playing solid defense, it’s funny right after he made the diving play to his left, gets up and makes the throw comes in. You heard the chatter, ‘watch now he’s going to hit one out of the park’ there he goes and does it.”

It didn’t take long before the Beavers found another home run with Oregon State junior infielder/outfielder Jacob Melton launched a two-run home run off a slider to right field in the bottom of the 5th inning, which is his 12th home run on the year. The Beavers extended their lead 4-0 before going into the top of 6th inning.

Melton had himself a weekend against the Ducks in the match-up at Goss Stadium going 7 for 11 with two home runs and 7 RBI’s. He also didn’t mind sticking it to the Ducks either, saying “Oregon is a school that out of high school really didn’t give me an opportunity. Their prior head coach told me that I would never be able to play D-1 baseball. So, I kind of have had that as a chip on my shoulder the last two years playing them. Obviously, it felt good this year to come out there and pick up five wins against them this year.”

On the mound, Oregon State junior right-handed pitcher Jacob Pfennigs picked up the win for the Beavers with his record improving to (2-0) on the season, pitching 5 innings. Oregon State junior utility player Brayden Boisvert relieved Pfennigs pitching two innings and only allowing one hit. Oregon State junior right-handed pitcher Brock Townsend closed out the day relieving Boisvert, pitching two innings and gave up one hit in the ninth inning.

The trio of Pfennigs, Boisvert, and Townsend only gave up four hits total, which were all singles and only one runner for the Ducks reached second base and no pitcher gave up a single run through nine innings. This was after Saturday’s game where the pitching lineup gave up thirteen hits and seven runs to the Ducks.

For the Ducks, sophomore right-handed pitcher Jace Stoffal took the loss and his record falls to (0-2) on the season giving up 2 runs. Junior right-hander pitcher Caleb Sloan came on in relief on Stoffal pitching one inning and gave up two runs in the 5th inning.  Sophomore right-handed pitcher Logan Mercado pitched 1.2 innings after relieving Sloan. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Andrew Mosiello closed out on the mound for the Ducks pitching 1.1 innings.

Up next, Oregon State (38-9, 18-6 Pac-12) will take on the University of Portland Pilots on this Tuesday with a first pitch scheduled for 5:35 p.m.

Was this article helpful?
YesNo