By Staff Reports OSU Daily Barometer

April 21, 2008

Corvallis, OR (UWIRE) -- John Wallace's single to center became the game-winner as the Oregon State baseball team scored five in the ninth for a 6-4 comeback victory over No. 2 Arizona State Friday night at Packard Stadium.

Wallace's single broke a 4-4 tie and the Beavers added an insurance run before Kevin Rhoderick came on in the ninth for his seventh save of the season. Oregon State's five-run ninth offset Arizona State's three-run eighth that seemingly gave Arizona State a commanding 4-1 lead.

Jordan Lennerton started off the ninth with a one-out walk, then moved to second when Daniel Robertson singled to center. That set up Lonnie Lechelt's second triple of the season, a fly down the left field line that nearly evaded the diving glove of Ryan Sontag, which allowed both Lennerton and Robertson to score and pulling OSU to within one, 4-3. The three-straight hits came off reliever Tommy Rafferty, and Lechelt's triple chased him in favor of Reyes Dorado.

Dorado immediately gave up a single through the left side to Chris Hopkins, scoring Lechelt, and tying the game at four. Joey Wong then walked, and moved to third on Wallace's game-winning single.

The 10-pitch at bat drove in Hopkins from second and set up Jason Ogata's sacrifice fly to left that drove in Wong and gave OSU a 6-4 lead.

"This was an excellent game with a postseason-type atmosphere," Oregon State head coach Pat Casey said. "Mike Stutes came in and had an excellent outing and we did a real good job of coming on late offensively against a very good Arizona State team. It's tough to get wins on the road in the Pac-10."

Oregon State starter Stutes took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and ended the night allowing three hits and four runs while walking just three. The right-hander threw 124 pitches, his second-highest count of the season, in 7 2/3 innings, which was his longest outing of the season.

Stutes moved through the first seven innings, allowing a solo run in the third on a sacrifice fly. All nine of his strikeouts came in the first seven innings. In the eighth, he allowed a single to Matt Newman, which broke up the no-hitter. Raoul Torrez moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt, then Stutes got Sontag to fly out to center.

Brett Wallace then intentionally walked, setting up a run-scoring single by Jason Kipnis. Ike Davis made it 3-1 with another single, and Petey Paramore doubled off reliever Kraig Sitton to cap the inning and make it 4-1 in favor of Arizona State.

Because Oregon State (17-12 overall, 5-5 Pac-10) scored five runs in the ninth inning, Stutes did not figure in the decision.

The win belonged to Greg Peavey, who worked just 1/3 of an inning in relief of Sitton. Peavey threw three pitches, but that's all he needed to help keep Arizona State at bay before Oregon State's five-run ninth. Peavey improved to 2-1 this season.

On Saturday, Tanner Robles scattered three hits and a run and Wong and Lechelt both hit two-out home runs in Oregon State's 12-3 series clinching victory over the Sun Devils.

The series victory marked Oregon State's first-ever at Arizona State and was the first time the Sun Devils dropped a Pac-10 series at home since Arizona took 2-of-3 in 2005.

"This is a great win," Oregon State head coach Casey said. "Tanner was solid out there. He gave us six good innings and the offense did a really good job of supporting him. This was an all-around solid victory."

Robles, in just his second career Pac-10 start, limited the Sun Devils to a sac fly in the first inning and gave up singles in the first, fifth and sixth innings. The left-hander from Murray, Utah struck out five and walked four and improved to 2-0 this season. He dropped his ERA to 3.00 from 3.50 prior to the game.

The Beavers pounded out nine hits off six Arizona State pitchers. The Sun Devils also gave Oregon State four errors to work with, the second-most by a Beavers' opponent this year.

Ortiz led Oregon State with three hits, while Lechelt, whose fourth-inning home run gave OSU a commanding 5-1 lead, led the Beavers with four runs batted in. In nine career games against Arizona State, Lechelt has six hits, two of which are triples and another, a double, and 10 RBI.

Wong also had two RBI, his fourth multiple-RBI game of the season, on his third-inning round-tripper.

Lennerton, meanwhile, capped off Oregon State's nine-run win with a two-run home run to left in the ninth, the Beavers' third home run of the game.

Oregon State's first two runs of the game came off a combination of small ball and the long ball. Braden Wells, starting his fifth game of the season and batting in the No. 9 spot of the order, reached base with two outs in the third on an infield single to short. Wong came to bat against Arizona State starter Satow and battled for eight pitches, taking the count to 3-2. On the ninth pitch of the at bat, Wong took the offering from the lefty and deposited it over the right field fence to give the Beavers a 2-1 lead.

The home run was the fourth of the season for Wong, tying him for the team lead, and the RBI were the 18th and 19th of 2008 for the sophomore.

Lechelt added to the lead in the fourth, connecting on a 2-1, two-out pitch from Satow to give the Beavers a 5-1 lead on his second home run of the season. Drew George had reached on an error to start the inning and Ortiz posted a single as the second batter of the inning. Both scored on Lechelt's three-run home run.

Oregon State chased Satow in the fifth after the lefty was able to get through 4 1/3 innings. He surrendered five hits and seven runs - only four of which were earned as ASU made three errors behind him. Satow struck out five and walked three to drop to 4-2 on the year.

The final two runs credited to Satow came in the fifth with Stephen Sauer on the mound. Ogata, who had been walked by Satow, scored on a Daniel Robertson single and subsequent error by the right fielder. Then, John Wallace, in a pinch hit appearance, reached on a fielder's choice, enabling George to score from third.

Oregon State added an insurance run in the seventh and two more in the eighth before Lennerton's two-run home run to left in the ninth. Arizona State scored two more in the ninth to bridge the gap slightly but not enough for a comeback.

The game was the eighth-straight for Oregon State against a top-10 club. The Beavers are 4-4 over that stretch and 4-6 this season against such opponents. Fourteen of the Beavers' 30 games this season have come against top-25 teams and OSU improved to 6-8 this year in that situation.

However, OSU could not take all three from ASU as the No. 2 ranked team in the country outlasted the two-time defending national champions yesterday, beating the Beavers 15-12.

Sunday's game was a slugfest, with the teams combining for three home runs and 26 hits overall. The Beavers led the game with 14 hits. Wells had three hits, tying a career-high set last season against Washington State. Wong finished with two hits - a double in the second and two-run home run in the sixth - while Lechelt posted singles in the second and fourth innings and a run-scoring double in the ninth.

Neither starter was able to get out of the second inning. Arizona State scored seven runs off five hits in 1 2/3 innings against Oregon State's Jorge Reyes. The right-hander walked two and struck out two in 44 pitches.

Reyes fell to 2-2 this season.

(C) 2008 OSU Daily Barometer via UWIRE