UC Irvine Rocks #1 Oregon State 14-2

The top-seeded Beavers (43-13) will face UNLV (36-24) at 2:00 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game;

If the Beavers defeat UNLV, they will play Irvine again at 8 p.m. Sunday. If Irvine prevails, it wins the regional and advances to the Super Regionals. Photo: Oregon State Athletics

(CORVALLIS, Ore.) - UC Irvine sophomore lefty Elliot Surrey pitched seven shutout innings and the Anteaters took control of the Corvallis Region with a 14-2 victory over Oregon State on Saturday night in a second-round game at Goss Stadium.

Surrey allowed three hits, struck out eight and did not allow an OSU runner to reach third base before being lifted with after the first two batters reached safely in the eighth. They eventually scored, but reliever Mitch Merten escaped a bases-loaded jam to preserve the lead and Irvine, the designated home team, scored eight times in the bottom half to remove all doubt.

Third-seeded Irvine (37-22) moved to within one victory of the tournament championship and a berth in the Super Regionals.

The top-seeded Beavers (43-13) will face UNLV (36-24) at 2:00 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game; UNLV ousted North Dakota State 2-1 on Saturday afternoon to stay alive in the double-elimination event.

If the Beavers defeat UNLV, they will play Irvine again at 8 p.m. Sunday.If Irvine prevails, it wins the regional and advances to the Super Regionals. If the Beavers triumph, they’ll face the Anteaters again at 8 p.m. Monday in the championship game.

The Anteaters had just six hits against OSU starter Jace Fry (11-2), but scored six times. Four of those hits went for extra bases and they played small ball to perfection by scoring three times on squeeze bunts. Connor Spencer doubled twice, singled, drove in two and scored twice, Taylor Sparks homered, doubled and scored twice and Jerry McClanahan singled twice and drove in two for Irvine.

Irvine took a 6-0 lead into the eighth before the Beavers rallied. Logan Ice singled, Caleb Hamilton walked and both moved up a base on a groundout off reliever Sam Moore. Jeff Hendrix singled both home to make it 6-2 and the Beavers then loaded the bases with a base hit by Andy Peterson and a walk to Michael Conforto, bringing the tying run to the plate.

Merten relieved Moore at that point and retired Dylan Davis on an infield popper and Gabe Clark on a strikeout to end the threat. Kris Paulino’s grand slam capped the eight-run eighth that blew the game open, giving the Anteaters 24 runs in their two regional games.

It was OSU’s first loss in five regionals undercoach Pat Casey. The Beavers were 13-0 in five home regionals before Saturday, with 3-0 sweeps in 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2013 and Friday’s 2-1 victory over NDSU in this year’s opener.

The Beavers were in an identical position at the Charlottesville regional in 2007 after a second-round loss to host Virginia. They came back to eliminate Rutgers and then defeated Virginia twice in a row to begin a 10-game winning streak that ended with a repeat NCAA championship.

The season-high crowd of 3,422 raised the season total to 71,892 in 25 openings, an average of 2,876 per date. The Beavers have drawn 2,032 or more fans to every home game.

There may be tickets available for Sunday’s game, starting at 10 a.m. at Goss Stadium.

Source: Oregon State Athletics