On a cold, rain-scattered day at Goss Stadium, the Beavers handled business against the North Dakota State Bison, winning the final game of their four-game series 13-7.
The Beavers started hot as they scored four runs in the first inning. Travis Bazzana led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and advanced to second base on Mason Guerra’s first hit of the series.
With runners on first and second, Gavin Turley laced a single into center to score Bazzana. The offense didn’t stop there. After a walk to Elijah Hainline to load the bases, Jabin Trosky sent a line drive into left field that fell under the diving outfielder. 4-0 Beavers early.
NDSU answered back with one run in the top of the second, courtesy of an RBI single from Garret Hill. Freshman Eric Segura, who took the mound for the first time in front of the home crowd on Sunday, retired the side in the top of the third and would have his strong outing assisted by a Mason Guerra solo long bomb in the bottom of the inning. His home run went 427ft and mph off the bat.
Guerra had been struggling at the plate this series, but his two-hit performance is a good step in the right direction.
“I don’t think he, or a lot of the guys would let anything get to him. If you’re locked in and having quality at-bats, just missing it, then stay the course. He hit my car in the parking lot, I’ll have to go check on that one,” head coach Mitch Canham said.
Another bright spot for the Beavers Sunday was their starting pitcher Segura. He went five and 2/3rd innings which was his longest outing of the season. Segura struck out two while only giving up three runs on three hits. Control was hard to come by today as Segura hit three Bison batters. Beavers’ pitchers would hit four batters in total, while Bison pitchers hit three.
One Beaver on the receiving end of those hit-by-pitches was Freshman third baseman Trent Caraway, who was hit twice. Caraway had a rough start to the game as he made two errors in the top of the first inning.
“It’s baseball, stuff happens. You just have to move on and take your next opportunity, next pitch, whatever it is,” Caraway said.
Caraway would take advantage of his next opportunities as he made a leaping play to his left to get the second out in the fifth inning, an inning that the Bison looked to be gaining momentum. Later in the eighth, NDSU scored three in the top of the inning, closing their deficit to 10-7.
Caraway and catcher Tanner Smith would provide the Beavers with some insurance. First with a rope of a two-run home run off the bat of Smith, and later a booming RBI double off the wall from Caraway, which scored Canon Reeder.
The Beavers are now 11-1 on the year and look to continue their success next week at home against California State University, Northridge. The first game of the series is on March 7, at 5:35 p.m.
