No. 12 Oregon State Nips Georgia, 5-4

Former Sprague High star Joey Wong went 1-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI for the Beavers.

OSU reliever Kevin Rhoderick picked up his second save of the season working a perfect ninth against the Bulldogs Sunday. Photo courtesy: OSU Athletics

PORTLAND, Ore. - The 12th-ranked Oregon State baseball team took the final game of the Papé Grand Slam, 5-4, Sunday afternoon over Georgia with its first comeback win of the season.

The win came courtesy of a wild pitch by Georgia pitcher Dean Weaver (0-1) in the bottom of the eighth, scoring John Wallace from third.

The rubber game of the three game series was played in front of a Pac-10 record crowd of 11,166, which does not include games held at the College World Series in Omaha. The record broke the previous record of 10,710 set in game two of the series..

The three game Papé Grand Slam drew a total attendance of 29,332 with an average of 9,777.

“It was incredible to see all our fans out at a terrific series in Portland,” head coach Pat Casey said. “Today’s game was a fundamentally sound game. We had timely hitting at the end and our relievers backed up a good season start by Greg Peavey.”

The winning run was set up by Wallace, who walked to start the eighth. Drew George moved him to third on a single, then came to the plate on a wild pitch by Dean Weaver with Ryan Ortiz at the plate.

Greg Peavey came back from a disappointing start last week against Arizona State and pitched a solid 6 2/3 solid innings, recieving a no decision. Peavey scattered seven hits and allowing four runs; all four runs came off three home runs, including two by shortstop Gordon Beckham.

Jason Ogata went 2-for-3 with three RBI and is now the season leader in batting average, hitting .478. He extended his hitting streak to six games with a solo home run in the sixth inning.

Georgia (2-4 overall) started the game with one run in the top of the first inning thanks to a solo home run by Beckham. He added another home run in the fourth inning and had three RBI on the day.

The Beavers (3-3) tied it up, 4-4, in the bottom half of the seventh with two runs capped off by a two-out, full-count single by Ogata that scored Joey Wong from second.

Wong went 1-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. He started the scoring off for the Beavers in the first after walking to start the Beavers’ half of the inning.

Bulldog starting pitcher Nathan Moreau went 5 1/3 innings, giving up only two runs off of five hits to receive no decision. Moreau was replaced by Weaver, who fell to 0-1 this season.

The Beavers utilized relievers Blake Keitzman, Mark Grbavac, and Kevin Rhoderick. The trio worked a combined 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four. Rhoderick picked up his second save of the season working a perfect ninth.

Grbavac, meanwhile, took the win after going one inning. He improved to 1-0 this season.

The Beavers will be back in action when they play their fourth game in five days in Portland when they face Portland at Joe Etzel Field with a first pitch time of 2 p.m.

OSU Notes: Jason Ogata extended his hitting streak to six games with a home run in the sixth … Blake Keitzman has now inherited four runners in relief and none have scored … Greg Peavey recorded his first career strikeout against Georgia’s Ryan Peisel as the first batter of the game … Koa Kahalehoe got his first successful stolen base of the season and becomes only the third Beaver to do so … Kevin Rhoderick picked up his second save of the season … Mark Grbavac got his first win of the season and first by a reliever.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports