5/16/2021 baseball Edit

Beavers Take Finale vs ASU 11-4

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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PHOENIX – Oregon State hit four home runs over the first four innings en route to an 11-4 win over Arizona State in the three-game series finale Sunday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Troy Claunch and Matthew Gretler homered in the second, Kyle Froemke went deep in the third and Ryan Ober went opposite field in the fourth to send the Beavers to their 32nd win of the season, against 17 losses. OSU improved to 14-10 in Pac-12 Conference play while Arizona State dropped to 30-16 overall, 14-10 in conference action.

Claunch’s solo shot in the second gave the Beavers an early lead and after a Froemke RBI double, Gretler went deep to left to make it a 4-0 game. Ober reached on an ASU error later in the inning to give the Beavers a 5-0 advantage.

The Sun Devils scored for the first time in the second, but OSU went up 8-1 after a three-run third. Justin Boyd drove in his first run of the game, then scored when Froemke went deep to left for his second home run of the season.

Another three-run inning in the fourth gave OSU an 11-1 advantage. Ober hit an opposite field home run for a two-run blast, then Boyd reached on a bunt single to cap the inning’s scoring.

Claunch led the Beavers with his second consecutive three-hit effort, falling just a triple short of the cycle. Froemke and Boyd also posted two hits for Oregon State, which finished with 11 as a team.

Jake Pfennigs made the start for the Beavers, and improved to 4-0 after allowing six hits and four runs in five innings. He gave way to Chase Watkins to start the sixth, leaving with an 11-4 lead.

Oregon State chased Arizona State starter Kai Murphy after 2 1/3 innings. Murphy, who pitched for the Beavers in 2020, allowed five hits and six runs to drop to 1-1 this season.

Next Up

Oregon State plays its final non-conference game of the regular season Tuesday when visiting Portland at Joe Etzel Field. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. PT.

Notables

- Greg Fuchs made his first start of the season in left field. Justin Boyd, who started in left Saturday night, moved to right field Sunday. It marked his first career start in right.

- It was Fuchs’ first start in left since April 3, 2019 versus San Diego State.

- Claunch batted in the cleanup spot of the lineup for the first time since March 24 versus Santa Clara.

- Claunch’s home run in the second extended his hit streak to 10 games, which ties Andy Armstrong for the longest streak by a Beaver this season.

- The Beavers finished with three or more home runs in the same game for the fifth time this season. OSU also hit three in the second game of the series.

- Pfennigs is 3-0 in true road games this season.

- The teams combined for 17 home runs over the three games. The Beavers finished with nine to Arizona State’s eight.

- Fourteen of the Beavers’ 32 hits during the series went for extra bases.

- Oregon State now has 49 home runs on the year and is looking to become the fifth Beaver team since 2000 to tally 50 or more in the regular season. OSU did so in 2000 (58), 2001 (53), 2002 (54) and 2018 (52). The 2018 club ended the season with 67 after hitting 15 in the postseason.

- The 2021 Beavers have hit 13 home runs over their last five games.