June 9, 2013

Beavers Blast Wildcats

By Patrick Meyers

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State came out swinging Sunday night, and did not stop until it had battered Kansas State 12-4 and forced a winner-take-all third game in the Corvallis Super Regional.

The night could not have started any better as Michael Conforto and Dylan Davis hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the first. The slight nervousness of the Goss Stadium quickly vanished, and the bats caught fire for the Beavers (49-11).  It was all downhill from there for the Wildcats (45-18) as the Beavers piled on three more runs in the first and took a commanding 5-0 lead. 

“It was nice to come out and get some runs,” Oregon State coach Pat Casey said. “I thought our guys did a good job of showing up ready to play, and it took a lot of the edge off. I thought we were more patient, got better pitches to hit and didn’t swing so early in the count. We allowed ourselves to get deeper in counts and get better pitches to hit.”

Sizzling would be an understatement for how the Beavers started. 

Andrew Moore (14-1) started for the Beavers and at times was just as dominant as his offense.  Moore threw 124 pitches over eight innings, allowing four runs and six hits.  He struck out a career-best nine.

Almost every Oregon State batter made a contribution, with shortstop Tyler Smith going 4 for 5 with three RBI and a run and third baseman Kavin Keys going 4 for 5 with four runs.

“It was definitely huge coming out with Michael Conforto and Dylan Davis getting the first two home runs,” said Moore, who tied the school mark with his 14th win. “That was huge because it allowed me to kind of relax and just getting that energy going early on. I think we definitely fed off of that the entire game. The crowd was into it and the dugout was into it. I was able to go out there and be aggressive with early strikes.”

Kansas State, which won Game 1 with a remarkable last-inning comeback, closed to 9-3 in the bottom of the fourth, but there would be no-late game magic Sunday. Jared King had a solo homer, and Jon Davis and Mitch Meyer contributed RBI for the Wildcats, who managed only six hits.

“I think obviously the top of the first told the story of the game,” Kansas State coach Brad Hill said. “Back-to-back home runs really got the crowd involved, and you could tell the team just really fed off of that. Our freshman on the mound just got a little shell-shocked, and we couldn't shut it down, so that was pretty much it.”

Wildcats starter Blake McFadden (6-3) couldn’t escape the first, surrendering four hits and four earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.

A win the next ballgame will give the deserving ball club a ticket to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.  Game 3 will be decided Monday at 10 p.m. local time at Goss Stadium.