Errant Throw In 10th Gives Beavers Series Finale Win Over USC

Joey Wong led-off the Beavers first inning with a single that pushed his hitting streak to four games.

Salem-News.com Sports

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Koa Kahalehoe scored the game-winning run in the 10th inning on an errant throw from USC pitcher Daniel Cooper, giving the 14th-ranked Oregon State baseball team a 5-4 victory in the series finale at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

After Kraig Sitton and Kevin Rhoderick combined to retire the side in the top of the 10th, Kahalahoe led the bottom half of the inning off with an infield single. Michael Miller followed that with a line drive past USC (19-17 overall, 9-6 Pacific-10 Conference) first baseman Ricky Oropesa to put two runners on with no outs for the Beavers (23-9, 8-4). John Tommasini then bunted to Cooper, who overthrew third baseman Billy Pinkerton and allowed Kahalahoe to score from second and give the Beavers the extra-innings victory.

“It’s good to get a win today and come away from the series on a high note,” Oregon State head coach Pat Casey said. “We would have liked to win it without going extra innings, but USC is a tough club and made us battle after we went up early.”

Miller went 3-for-3 and drove in two runs to pace the Beavers, Kahalehoe and Stefen Romero finished with two apiece in the 10-hit attack for the Beavers, who dodged being swept at home by a conference club for the first time since 2007.

The Beavers got their other four runs in the first courtesy of a Romero double and a two-RBI single by Miller. Ryan Ortiz also scored on a bases-loaded fielding error by second baseman Joe De Pinto. The RBI single extended Miller’s personal-best hitting streak to four games and gave him his 13th and 14th RBI, respectively, of the season.

Romero’s double was his team-leading 14th of the season and extended his hitting streak to five games, his second hitting streak of that length this season. His single in the third gave him his 15th multi-hit game of the season.

Kahalahoe entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and made the most of his two plate appearances. He singled in the eighth inning and was ultimately stranded on third before singling and scoring the winning run in the 10th. The effort was Kahalahoe’s first multi-hit game of the season.

Joey Wong led-off the Beavers first inning with a single that pushed his hitting streak to four games.

Jorge Reyes got the start on the mound for Oregon State and pitched into the seventh inning for the fifth consecutive start. He held the Trojans scoreless through six innings and at one point retired 11 straight hitters. The right-hander struck out five while giving up six hits and four runs. His 6 2/3 innings was his fifth straight start of at least six full innings

After relieving Kraig Sitton, who went two full innings without allowing a run, Rhoderick needed just four pitches to record two outs and improve to 1-1 this season. Sitton had come on in relief of reliever Sam Gaviglio, who walked one in 2/3 of an inning in his 11th appearance of the season.

Robert Stock threw seven innings for the Trojans, giving up six hits and six walks. Of the four runs he gave up, only one was earned. Cooper took the loss after committing his second error of the season. The right-hander dropped to 1-1 this season after allowing four hits and a run in two innings.

Anthony Vasquez went 2-for-4 and scored one run for USC.

Sunday’s crowd of 2,879 gave the Beavers a total of 8,757 for the weekend at Goss Stadium, a regular season series record.

Oregon State takes the week off before visiting UCLA in a series that starts Friday in Los Angeles. Each game of the series, which ends Sunday, will be available live on Beaver Nation Online (osubeavers.com) and the Beaver Sports Network.

Oregon State Notes: With the win, the Beavers improved to 11-2 at Goss Stadium this season … After throwing 16 pitches in the first inning, Reyes followed with innings of seven pitches in the second and 10 in the third, eight in the fourth and 12 in the fifth … Oregon State is now 7-1 in games that Reyes starts … Oregon State put the leadoff runner on base in each of the first four innings … The victory moves the Beavers back into second place in the conference, a half game ahead of USC … The Beavers are now 6-1 in Sunday games and are 13-3 when scoring first.

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