Huskies Drop Heart-Breaker, 5-4, To Beavers

Saturday, April 2

Corvallis, OR

4:00 PM

University of Washington

13-10, 4-4

Oregon State

19-6, 5-3

Washington

Oregon State

Photo by: Washington Athletics

April 03, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 11^th-ranked Oregon State Beavers scored three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to ruin a spectacular pitching performance by Husky freshman Joe DeMers and send Washington to a 5-4 defeat Saturday at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Ore.

In a day in which the Beavers (19-6, 5-3 Pac-12) celebrated their 2006 National Championship team, OSU rekindled some of its decade-old magic and rallied off Husky closer Troy Rallings (1-1).

The Huskies' (13-10, 4-4) senior closer entered the game in the eighth inning with a 0.00 earned run average and had not been scored on in his previous 18 appearances dating back to last season. But, first baseman KJ Harrison connected for a game-tying single and right fielder Jack Anderson completed the comeback with a two-out, RBI single that proved to be the game winner and send Oregon State's sellout crowd of 3,319 home happy.

The Beavers' rally ruined a career-day for Husky freshman pitcher Joe DeMers and gave OSU a 2-0 series advantage. He threw a career-high 6 1/3 innings and kept the potent OSU offense off balance all day.

The offense, meanwhile, gave DeMers some room to work, breaking a scoreless tie in the fourth inning. The Huskies broke through with three runs to grab their first lead of the series. John Naff led things off with a walk and Chris Baker put two runners on when he reached out and singled to second base on an attempted pitch out by OSU starter Jake Thompson.

From there, the Huskies got aggressive, swinging at the next three pitches and scoring a run on each pitch. Catcher Joey Morgan, in a return to his home state, delivered a double into the left-center gap on the first pitch he saw and Washington had the 1-0 lead.

MJ Hubbs followed with a single up the middle, again on the first pitch, to make it 2-0, and Levi Jordan went hacking at the first pitch he saw and grounded out up the middle to score Morgan and make it 3-0 in favor of the visitors.

The Huskies scored another run and chased Thompson from the game in the sixth inning. Baker was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, putting an end to Thompson's day. Baker eventually came around to score with two outs on a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield by Jordan off reliever Scotland Church. It was the sophomore's second RBI of the game and made the score 4-0 in favor of the Huskies.

DeMers cruised through the first six innings without allowing a run before finding trouble after retiring the first Beavers' hitter of the seventh. He gave up back-to-back singles to Christian Donahue and Anderson and was replaced by senior Spencer Jones.

Center fielder Kyle Nobach greeted Jones with a ringing double into the right-center gap that scored both runners and closed the book on DeMers. The freshman, who was the 2015 California Gatorade Player of the Year, allowed five hits, two earned runs, struck out two and did not walk a batter.

Nobach eventually came around to score on back-to-back wild pitches by Jones, cutting the Huskies lead to just one run, 4-3.

The game was turned over to Rallings in the eighth, but he couldn't hold the lead for the first time in 14 appearances this season. Trever Morrison singled to start the inning, was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by Harrison. After a single put runners on the corners, Rallings got Donahue for the second out, but Anderson delivered the clutch two-out single to give the Beavers their first lead of the game.

Washington put two runners on base in the ninth on a walk by KJ Brady and single by Jack Meggs, but Oregon State closer Max Engelbrekt struck out Josh Cushing to end the game.

The Huskies left nine runners on base and had eight hits on the day. Morgan (2 for 2, RBI, R, BB) and Meggs (2 for 5) were the Huskies with multi-hits on the day.

The Huskies and Beavers face off in the final game of the series Sunday at Goss Stadium with first pitch set for 4:00 p.m. The game will be carried on Pac-12 Washington and Oregon with Troy Clady and Donnie Marbut calling all the action.

#11 Oregon St. 5 (19-6, 5-3), Washington 4 (13-10, 4-4)

WASH 000 301 000 –- 4 8 0
OSU 000 000 32x –- 5 10 0

LOB: UW 9, OSU 5. Joe DeMers, Spencer Jones (7), Troy Rallings (8) and Joey Morgan; Jake Thompson, Scotland Church (6), Mitch Hickey (8), Max Engelbrekt (9) and Logan Ice. W – Hickey (1-0). L – Rallings (1-1). SV – Engelbrekt (10). HR – none. 3B – none. 2B – UW, Joey Morgan; OSU, Nick Madrigal, Kyle Nobach. Time – 3:04. Attendance – 3,319.