The Beavers played their second game against Air Force in Goss Stadium on May 15. The Beavers had an early lead, but Air Force answered back with a 9-6 victory.
OSU began their three game series at Goss Stadium after taking a 7-4 victory to start on Thursday.
This time losing to Air Force 9-6 to split the series 1-1 in a back and forth game riddled with subpar pitching performances and fielding errors by both teams.
“When you’re behind and you come back, you’re behind and you come back, eventually that can weigh on you a little bit. You don’t want to, just keep doing your job,” Head Coach Mitch Canham said.
Both teams would use at least three pitching changes and both teams totaled 11 strikeouts between them all.
Starting pitcher, sophomore Eric Segura, let the tensions rise early. Putting two batters on base with no outs to start the first.
The Beaver defense provided some early cleanup with a double play and then another groundout at first before the batter on third could reach home to fend off the early deficit.
Senior AJ Singer was the first Beaver to reach base with a double to right field.
He would then be the one to score the first run, driven in by a grounder to right from sophomore Paul Vazquez, who recorded two hits in the previous game.
“Paul Vasquez continues to do a better job controlling the zone,” said Coach Canham.
Continued success would also come from freshman Josh Proctor. After having two RBIs on a double in the first game, he recorded his sixth home run of the season in the second inning, giving the Beavers an 2-0 lead.
Segura in the third found himself in a precarious situation, walking a batter into a bases loaded situation with only one out.
The close to worst case scenario would then come in the form of senior Walker Zapp, hitting a double that drove home everyone but himself.
Oregon State’s defense made it out of the top of the third after letting Zapp get home himself with the following two at bats. Air Force had then taken the lead 4-2.
Singer, batting leadoff in the third, seemed to take that personally, beginning the inning with a 400 ft home run to immediately cut into the lead.
After then allowing two more Beavers to reach base, Air Force’s starting freshman pitcher Jordan Watkins’ day was over after only three innings, freshman Trey Rutledge would take his spot.
Rutledge could not stop the Beavers from tying the game at four runs, freshman Ethan Porter finding his way home after a sacrifice groundout from Adam Haight.
Oregon State kept in Segura for the fourth, but the tough day would only continue.
Three singles would quickly load the bases, followed by an error from Singer that let two more runs come through. This would be the final straw and force Segura out after only one out.
“We just did not play clean,” Coach Canham said.
Sophomore Zach Edwards was then able to limit the damage and strand two batters to end the top of the fourth.
The Beavers weren’t able to produce a lead change as quickly as the previous innings, but were still able to gain one run off a pitching error which allowed sophomore Tyler Inge to steal home.
Air Force did undo the work in that inning with a home run by senior Tripp Garrish to lead off, Edwards was able to strikeout two to keep the deficit to two runs.
Edwards would also match Segura’s strikeout count of four in the sixth inning, despite pitching one less inning. While Rutledge continued to retire batters to protect the lead.
Oregon State brought in their third pitcher of the game senior Isaac Yeager with two men on and no outs in the seventh.
Despite the tough position, Yeager still only let one score to give the beavers a chance with three more innings to make up three runs.
The third pitcher for Air Force in the seventh, junior pitcher Sam Hentges seemed to have another scoreless inning in the bag with two outs. However, two Beavers were able to get on base through walks and a hit by pitch.
A lineup change then brought junior Bryson Glassco to the plate. He immediately delivered with a single that was able to bring Porter in for one run.
Junior Gaines Estridge, the pitcher filling in for Henteges, did let one on base with one out, but then struck out Inge and senior Easton Talt back to back. Leaving the Beavers last chance in the ninth.
Oregon State’s defense with senior pitcher Albert Roblez let Zapp score an additional run off of an RBI single before striking out the last batter to reach the bottom of the ninth.
All hopes were dashed in glorious fashion as the shaky Air Force bullpen finished a rallying performance with junior Patrick Davidson striking out the side and earning the save.
“Regardless of what the road is that we have to take, we’re excited to go out and take it,” Said Coach Canham.
With that loss, the Beavers will go into their regular season finale with a lot riding on the line for seeding, against Air Force on May 16th, at 1:35 P.M.