Oregon State Keeps Rolling With 12-6 Win Over ASU

OSU will next play on Wednesday at 4 p.m. PDT against the winner of Tuesday evening’s game between ASU and Califoria-Irvine.

Mike Stutes and three relievers combined to hold one of the nation's top hitting and scoring teams to seven hits, and Oregon State revved up its own offense to beat Arizona State 12-6 in the College World Series on Monday night.

The defending champion Beavers, who had seven hits in a 3-2 win over Cal State-Fullerton on Saturday, scored in every inning until the seventh and finished with 18 hits.

Mike Lissman went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer and four RBIs. Chris Hopkins, Joey Wong and Jason Ogata also had three hits apiece, and Jordan Lennerton homered.

OSU will next play on Wednesday at 4 p.m. PDT against the winner of Tuesday evening’s game between ASU and Califoria-Irvine.

UC-Irvine (46-16-1) or ASU (49-14) would have to beat the Beavers Wednesday and then again Thursday to keep them out of the best-of-three championship round that starts Saturday against the winner of the other bracket.

Wednesday’s game will be televised on ESPN2, and all of the Beavers’ CWS games can be heard on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area, KBZY-AM (1490) in the Salem area, KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area, KMED-AM (1440) in the Medford area, KRNR-AM (1490) in the Roseburg area, KNPT-AM (1310) in the Newport area, KAGO-AM (1150) in the Klamath Falls area and KODL-AM (1440) in The Dalles area, and KTIX-AM (1240) in the Pendleton area.

In the first two innings of Monday night’s game, Oregon State’s six runs surpassed its run production for the entire three-game series it played against Arizona State on May 18-20 in Corvallis. The Sun Devils swept that series by scores of 4-3, 3-0 and 8-1.

“I think our approach was the same,” OSU shortstop Darwin Barney said. “We just got it done. It takes something to spark it. Mike Stutes got that done tonight. We’re not the same club we were the last time they faced us.”

Stutes (11-4), making his third career CWS start and winning for the second time, allowed only two singles until he left with the bases loaded in the seventh.

“We needed to get a quality start against a fine offensive team,” OSU head coach Pat Casey said. “To get on the board early helped. The last time we faced these guys we didn’t have success.”

Blake Keitzman relieved and gave up an RBI single to Raoul Torrez and a two-run single to Eric Sogard. Petey Paramore delivered a long sacrifice fly against Joe Paterson to trim the Beavers' lead to 12-5 in the ninth.

Stutes was solid for a second straight start in the NCAA tournament. He allowed two runs on three hits in eight innings of the Beavers' super regional clincher against Michigan.

Making his latest outing more impressive was the lineup he was facing. Arizona State was batting .348 with 78 home runs in 62 games.

In losing three straight at home to the Sun Devils a month ago, Oregon State batters hit a combined .105 (9-of-86).

ASU coach Pat Murphy was looking for an encore from the two pitchers who played key roles in that series.

Brian Flores (11-2), who pitched a complete-game one-hitter against the Beavers last month, started Monday and faced only seven batters, allowing two runs on four hits.

Josh Satow, who allowed two hits and no runs in eight innings against OSU last month, entered in the second inning and left after the fourth having allowed six runs on eight hits.

The start of the game was pushed back nearly 90 minutes because the preceding game between UC-Irvine and Cal State-Fullerton took 13 innings and over five hours to decide. As a result, the Beavers were at Rosenblatt Stadium for nearly four hours before their game began.

“Anton (Maxwell) and I played ping-pong,” Barney said. “Then I went in the stands. We try to enjoy playing here; we try to have a good time.”

Mike Stutes’ 4 strikeouts on Monday night moved him into second place on OSU’s all-time list of single-season leaders with 124. On Monday, Stutes passed Ken Forsch, who had 121 strikeouts in 1968; Forsch went on to pitch for the Houston Astros and California Angels from 1970-86.

Mike Stutes' 11th win of the season moved him into the OSU all-time top-10 list for single-season victories; he's now tied with seven other players for fifth place.

OSU shortstop Darwin Barney broke his own school record for at-bats in a season; Barney now has 264, topping his mark of 261 set last season.

Mike Lissman’s 4 runs batted in matched his career high, which had been accomplished several times; the last was on Feb. 9 at Georgia.

Mike Lissman became the second Beaver to homer in back-to-back College World Series games. In 2006, Shea McFeely had homered against Miami (Fla.) and Rice on back-to-back nights.