The Oregon State Baseball team (11-3) endured their first loss of the season in Corvallis as the Washington State Cougars (12-2) evened up the three-game conference series with a final score of  6-3. 

The Beavers had the task of facing the deceptive senior pitcher Caden Kaelber (3-0). Kaelber gave Beaver hitters trouble all afternoon. 

“He was working the edges very well, he had lots of sink to his ball and I don’t think we made adjustments early enough,” said Head Coach Mitch Canham post game.  “Offensively we have to do a better job putting up more than just a couple runs” 

It was a slow start for Beaver’s pitcher Jacob Kmatz (1-2) in the first inning. The bases became loaded with one out and the first run to cross the plate for the Cougars was courtesy of a sacrifice fly from sophomore, Jacob Morrow. 

“First inning he didn’t really look like himself,” said Canham on Kmatz’s appearance. “Maybe he was a bit amped up it being his first conference start this year. He settled in come the second inning, executing his pitches, and mixed his pitches really well.” 

Although the first inning may not have gone as planned for Kmatz, he responded in dominant fashion. Kmatz’s re-introduction to the Cougar line-up came in the form of three straight strikeouts, one of them looking. 

Tualatin native Kyle Dernedde opened the scoring for the Beavers in the form of a two out two RBI double to claim their only lead of the game. The lead for the Beavs was short lived as a double from Washington State first baseman Sam Brown tied the game at two. 

“He figured out how to use his pitches very quick,” said first-baseman Garret Forrester.  “I thought we would run him out of the game pretty quick after the first two innings. He didn’t get any better, we just didn’t adjust our approach soon enough” 

Former Beaver Greg Fuchs who transferred last summer put his stamp on the ball game with a lead claiming two run home run. There was no looking back for the Cougars after the slam.

Kmatz ended his day going five innings with five hits, four earned runs, and five total strikeouts.

The 6-foot-7 inch pitcher Ian Lawson came in for relief in the sixth inning. Lawson went two full innings and escaped an impressive jam with runners on second and third to keep the Beavers just two runs back. 

Kaelber went seven full innings throwing a season high 105 pitches. It wasnt until Kaelber exited the game that Oregon State would tack on another run. 

In the eighth inning some life was injected into the bats of Beaver hitters. Mikey Kane added on another run thanks to his two out RBI single. It wouldn’t be enough as the Beavers fell to the Cougars with a final of 6-3.

“Its a little bit frustrating but there’s tomorrow. We’re gonna come out tomorrow with some fire and win the war” said a determined Forrester looking ahead to the next game.

Up next, the Beavers seek to win their three game series against the Washington State Cougars tomorrow in Goss at 1:05 p.m..