Oregon State Defeats San Diego To Advance To Regional Final

After leaving Goss Stadium on Friday night with a feeling that they could have played better against New Mexico State, the Oregon State baseball team (46-15) came out firing against San Diego on Saturday night en route to a 12-3 victory.

The win moves the Beavers into the Corvallis Regional Final where they will await the winner of San Diego/Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. Sunday.

"Our guys went out, had a great plan, and executed it early and often," Oregon State head coach Mitch Canham said.

Oregon State came out swinging, loading the bases in the top of the first inning and setting the stage for Jacob Melton to drive in Wade Meckler and Justin Boyd who reached via singles. Melton claimed one RBI as an E5 from San Diego's Jack Costello allowed Meckler to score.

"Obviously in a regional, you start 2-0 and you're in the driver's seat," Meckler said. "Yesterday I felt like we played tight as a group and felt the postseason pressure a little bit and we came back and played loose today."

The Beavers extended their advantage to four before the top half was finished as Jake Dukart hit a bases-clearing, stand-up triple, scoring Garret Forrester and Travis Bazzana who walked and reached on a fielders choice, respectively.

OSU added two more in the top of the second as Forrester blasted the first pitch he saw from SD starter Ryan Kysar over the left-field fence, scoring Meckler who walked the previous at-bat.

The Beavers added two more in the top of the third as Matthew Gretler & Kyle Dernedde each picked up RBIs to push to advantage to 8-0.

The Toreros added their first two runs of the evening in the bottom of the third.

The Beavers extended their advantage to 9-2 in the top of the fourth as Meckler led off with a double and Forrester singled.

SD added another in the bottom of the fifth as Angelo Peraza sent a 2-1 pitch over the left-field wall.

Jake Pfennigs started for the Beavers and worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing six hits, three runs, and three walks while striking out three. He picked up the win to move to 4-0 on the year...

Brock Townsend came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth and worked the remainder of the contest, earning the save and allowing just a single hit.

The Beavers added two more in the top of the seventh to push the score to 11-3 as Bazzana walked, stole second, and then reached home on a double error (E2) before Boyd picked up an RBI single, scoring Dernedde who doubled in the frame.

OSU added its final run of the evening in the top of the ninth as Bazzana launched the first pitch he saw into the upper rows of the right-field bleachers to give the Beavers a 12-3 advantage.

Oregon State Notes

- The teams met for the 20th time and the first since OSU took a pair of games during the 2018 season. Oregon State, which has won five straight in the series, is 10-10 all-time against the Toreros.

- Pfennigs improved to 3-0 at home this season and 5-1 in his career. Pfennigs has won his last three starts at Goss Stadium.

- Boyd stole his 24th base of the season in the seventh. That moved him into a tie for seventh for a single season at OSU. He equaled Jeff Doyle’s 24 in 1976.