5/1/2022 baseball Edit

Oregon State Baseball: Beavers Beat Utes 3-1

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

PROMO: Join BeaversEdge.com and get 30 DAYS FREE!

MORE: Six Beavers Sign Free Agent Deals | Teagan Quitoriano Selected By Houston | Damir Collins Enters Portal | April Recruiting Mailbag + Nuggets

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Ben Ferrer struck out five in 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to send No. 2 Oregon State to a 3-1 win over Utah Sunday night at Smith’s Ballpark. With the win, the Beavers clinched the series over the Utes, winning the final two games of the weekend.

The win also kept Oregon State (34-9 overall, 15-6 Pac-12 Conference) in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12, one game ahead of UCLA.

Ferrer picked up the win, improving to 2-0 this season. Coming on in relief of Jake Pfennigs in the third, he limited Utah (25-17-1, 10-11) to a single and two walks. In doing so, he extended his scoreless streak to 14 innings, lowering his earned run average to 1.59 on the year.

Jacob Melton drove in the Beavers’ first two runs, sending OSU to a 2-0 lead before the Utes managed to record an out. Wade Meckler and Justin Boyd posted back-to-back singles to open the game, and scored when Melton drove a 2-2 pitch to the gap in left center.

OSU added to the lead in the fourth. Tanner Smith reached on a two-out double, scoring when Jabin Trosky singled to left.

Meckler went 3-for-5 to pace the OSU offense, which recorded nine hits on the night.

Utah put its first two runners on in the ninth and pushed them to second and third with one down after a sacrifice bunt. Ryan Brown, however, closed out his seventh game of the season with back-to-back strikeouts.

Pfennigs, making his fifth start of the year, held Utah to a hit and two walks in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out two and did not allow a run, lowering his season ERA to 0.66.

Cam Day worked seven innings for Utah, scattering six hits and three runs with four strikeouts and a walk. He took the loss to drop to 1-5 on the year.

Next Up

Oregon State plays its last of a five-game road trip Tuesday night in Eugene. The Beavers and Ducks start their non-conference game at 6 p.m. PT at PK Park.

Oregon State Notes

- Both Meckler and Boyd extended their respective hit streaks in the first. Meckler pushed his to a season-long 12 games with a 2-0 single, and Boyd extended his to 10 games with a single on 3-2.

- Boyd’s 10-gamer is one shy of equaling his season-long.

- Meckler recorded his 19th multiple-hit game of the season.

- Oregon State is 8-1 in its last nine Pac-12 games.

- The Beavers are 9-3 away from home in Pac-12 contests.

- Ferrer has now gone 14 consecutive innings without allowing a run. That stretch, which consists of five relief outings, has seen the righty strike out 17 while allowing three hits and two walks.

- Trosky made his fifth start of the season and first at second base.

- Utah put just three leadoff batters on base in 26 innings in the series.