BYU baseball: Cougars watch 7-run lead disappear against Beavers
But then the Beavers' bats showed up, and OSU showed why it has claimed back-to-back NCAA titles. Oregon State roared back to take the lead, then held on to defeat the Cougars, 17-11, before a crowd of 1,383 at Larry H. Miller Field.
The second of a two-game series between BYU and OSU was a zany slugfest that produced 28 runs, 38 hits, five errors and lasted three hours, 37 minutes.
"We know we can swing the bats with anybody in the country," said Cougar coach Vance Law. "The key to the whole ballgame was, every time we scored, they scored the next inning."
Not only did the Beavers score, it was how they scored. OSU plated eight of its 17 runs with two outs. Oregon State (11-7) scored 15 runs over the final six innings, including five runs in the fourth and ninth innings. And the Cougars couldn't keep up, scoring just two runs over that same span.
Beaver middle reliever Starr Taylor earned the win after pitching four scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and striking out five BYU batters.
BYU's starter, Jake Wortham, pitched 3 2/3 innings, yielding 10 hits and seven runs to go along with three walks and four strikeouts.
"Wortham was breezing until we had two outs in the fourth," Law said.
In all, the Beavers stockpiled 22 hits compared to 16 for the Cougars.
Law said the opportunity to play an upper-echelon opponent will help his team the rest of the season as it competes for a Mountain West Conference championship.
"This series was very important for us moving forward," Law said. "I think we gained some confidence though we lost two games. We're getting better. We need more experience on the mound."
BYU (12-12) exploded for seven runs in the second inning as Kasey Ko singled and was driven home on a Thomas Bills single. J.T. Musso, Jonathan Cluff, Dan Vargas, Sean McNaughton and Kent Walton all followed with singles.
Parker led off the bottom of the third with a home run. A subsequent RBI single by Brandon Relf staked the Cougars to a 9-2 advantage.
But it didn't last.
Oregon State pushed five runs across the plate in the fourth inning, highlighted by Jason Ogata's three-run homer and a two-run triple by Drew George.
Two innings later, BYU surrendered the lead for good. With the bases loaded, Lonnie Lechelt belted a pitch to straightaway center, over the head of Walton, for a three-run triple. Suddenly, it was 10-9 for the Beavers, who had scored eight unanswered runs.
OSU added two more runs in the eighth and the Cougars matched them in their half of the frame on RBI singles by Relf and McNaughton. But in the ninth, the Beavers plated five more runs to all but seal the victory.
Ogata finished 4-for-6 with four RBIs and three runs scored and Daniel Robertson also had four hits for OSU. The Cougars were led by Parker and Musso, who both went 3-for-5 from the plate.
BYU, which just finished a long homestand, now goes on the road for a three-game series at Oral Roberts beginning Thursday.
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com
Recent comments
Take it easy Cougar/Beaver. Nobody in Cougartown is whining about...
At the game | March 26, 2008 at 10:54 p.m.
This should but will probably not put an end to the never ending...
Cougar/Beaver | March 26, 2008 at 7:10 p.m.
