With their raucous and unending cheers and jeers, the Saint Mary’s Gaels looked like they thought they were the home team on Sunday afternoon at Kelly Field in Corvallis.

After all the cheering and chanting and name shouting had subsided, the Gaels beat the Beavers by a score of 7-3. 

With the loss, the Beavers sit at 19-22 overall and 2-7 in West Coast Conference play. Despite being in last place in the WCC, the Beavers felt they were competitive.

“I think we just need to jump out sooner to put ourselves in a better position to win,” sophomore infielder Tristian Thompson said.

After the first half of the first inning, Saint Mary’s jumped to a 3-0 lead that began when Tori Cervantes sent Sam Buckley to home plate with a run batted in. 

Camill Lara then made it 2-0 as Taylor Lane made it to first on a fielder’s choice. The Gaels closed their first inning scoring with Cervantes scoring on Vi Castillo’s sac fly.

The Beavers were slow to start, though junior outfielder Morgan Howey reached base on OSU’s first at bat. From there Jaeya Butler, Tristan Thompson, and Lici Campbell struck out one-by-one.

The Gaels responded with a two-run homer in the second inning from Cervantes, who also sent Lara to score. Oregon State’s second inning saw them cut the lead to 5-1 with a home run from Nicole Donahue. 

In the third, OSU’s senior pitcher Ellie Garcia made quick work of the Gaels’ offense with three fly outs, one walk, and no scores. The Beavers entered the bottom of the third trailing 5-1, but Thompson’s line drive homer to center field narrowed the deficit to 5-2.

While OSU was not able to cut the lead further in the third, Thompson was one of the Beavers’ most productive players on Sunday with a home run and RBI in three at bats. Donahue also had a home run and an RBI. Howey contributed two hits, an RBI, and a walk in three appearances at the plate.

Though the Gaels extended their advantage to 6-2 in the top of the fourth with a home run from Buckley, the game’s pace slowed down and both defenses found themselves catching seemingly everything that was hit into the field. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Beavers once again cut the lead to three when Howey doubled and sent freshman outfielder Justice Flores to score.

The Beavers were not able to score again, though the Gaels brought the game to its final margin when the Gaels’ Cervantes scored on an unearned run in the top of the sixth.

For the game, Cervantes had three runs, including a home run, two hits and three RBI. 

Lara and Buckley each added two runs in three at bats. Mia NishiKawa earned the win for Gaels with 5.0 IP, giving up six hits, three earned runs, and notching two strikeouts. 

For Oregon State, Garcia took the loss. 

Garcia pitched 4.0 innings, giving up six hits, six earned runs and walked three, also recording one strikeout. She was replaced by Logan Hulon, who pitched 3.0 innings and gave up two hits and one run while striking out two Gaels.

Sunday’s contest ended the three-game series between OSU and Saint Mary’s with the Gaels winning all three games.

The Beavers will play their next game on Saturday at noon against the Pacific University Tigers in Stockton, California.