Oregon State Rocks No. 2 Arizona State, 12-3

Jordan Lennerton 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.

Joey Wong Photo courtesy: OSU Athletics

TEMPE, Ariz. - Tanner Robles scattered three hits and a run and Joey Wong and Lonnie Lechelt both hit two-out home runs in Oregon State’s 12-3 series clinching victory over No. 2 Arizona State Saturday night at Packard Stadium.

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

“This is a great win,” Oregon State head coach Pat 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.

Ryan 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.

Jordan 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 Josh 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 Ryan 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. Jason 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.

The clubs conclude the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. at Packard Stadium. Fans can catch the game live on the Beaver Sports Network, Beaver Nation Online (www.osubeavers.com) or Yahoo! Sports.

OSU Notes: The game aired live on XM Radio on channel 193 as the Pac-10 Game of the Week ... It was the second of three appearances for OSU on satellite radio this season ... The Beavers appeared on it April 12 against Stanford and are scheduled to be on April 26 when hosting Arizona ... The Oregon State starters in the first two games, Mike Stutes and Tanner Robles, have held Arizona State to just six hits in 13 2/3 innings while striking out 14 ... Robles threw 29 pitches in the first inning, 19 of which were strikes ... The Beavers improved to 8-0 in night games this season.

Source: OSU Athletics

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