Freshman Trey Morris took the mound over the injured Dax Whitney for the Beavers against California State University, Northridge in the third game of the series, recording a 1.99 ERA, his second best of the season, in a 5-2 win at Goss.
“[Morris] did a great job,” Head Coach Mitch Canham said after the game. “How he came in, even on a warm day…there was one quick inning when he sat back down, then was right back out there…he wasn’t even breathing hard at all. You pay attention to that.”
Morris was one of six underclassmen making the start for the No. 6 Beavers in the win over CSUN on Sunday.
Three of the underclass six dominated the statsheet. Freshman Ethan Porter led the Beavers with a 3.03 batting average, Morris stepped to the mound with a top-season performance and sophomore Tyler Inge made pivotal plays on offense.
Morris took a while to get his footing, but settled in after recording his first strikeout at the top of the second inning against Matador Trent Abel.
“I found out [I would be getting the ball] yesterday,” Morris said postgame. “It gave me a little bit of a heads up. Kind of get the mind right. Get ready to go for today.”
The first hit of the game was collected by Inge and resulted in a 6-4-3 double play. The play forecasted the rest of the game for Oregon State’s defense.
Bryce Hubbard, designated hitter for the Beavers, opened up the scoring for the Beavers, taking Easton Talt home with a line-drive past the pitcher.
Porter hammered his second home run of the weekend to center field in the second inning. He leads the Beavers for season batting average at .333. Porter also extended his presence on defense, reaching to catch a foul ball in the top of the third and holding down first base until the last inning.
Canham focused on the freshman class, shouting out Josh Proctor specifically postgame. The freshman left-fielder has been battling a batting slump.
“He’s incredible,” Canham said. “Even as a freshman, he’s not afraid to speak up and encourage guys…him and Porter, I don’t know if they’ve ever missed a day getting getting their offensive work in.”
Proctor did get on base today and ran over home base to extend the Beavers lead to 4-0 off a grounder from Inge.
The Matadors found home plate in the fourth inning after a triple to right field past Adam Haight by Vaughn Coleman and single to send Coleman home.
Momentum began to shift in the Matador’s favor in the fourth inning, the Beavers offense deflating after giving up the run. CSUN recorded three outs with no runners on base in the bottom of the fourth.
However, Miller had other plans, recording two subsequent strikeouts against the Matador’s batting lineup at the top of the fifth to put the Beavers back at bat. This would be his last inning on the mound, ending the game with a 1.99 ERA, his second best of the season.
Tyler Inge had a standout game at bat, hitting even in the dry innings with little Beaver offensive action. His score in the fifth and run to third in the seventh kept the Beavers on base late in the game.
His fifth-inning run would be the last of the game for the Beavers, which would end 5-2 after a defensive play by sophomore Paul Vazquez to reach and snatch a line drive to third base.
The Beavers ended their 15-game homestead on Sunday and will travel to Hillsboro, Oregon to face the Portland Pilots on Tuesday at 5:35 p.m.