Tyce Peterson autographed baseballs down the left field line. A smattering of kids played catch in the outfield. And friends and family of the Oregon State baseball teased and taunted each other on a sun-soaked Saturday at Goss Stadium.
It was just another day at the office for the Beavers.
And just another victory for a surging team that has found its mojo at the perfect time.
“I love it,” right-hander Jacob Kmatz said. “We’re winning and winning is fun.”
No. 22 Oregon State defeated the Arizona Wildcats 10-4 Saturday, riding an impressive start by Kmatz and another balanced offensive performance to another series victory in front of 4,024, the ninth-largest crowd in Goss history.
It was the 11th win in the last 13 games for the Beavers (29-13, 13-10), who improved to 13-4 in April and earned their fifth victory in the last six conference series.
And unlike last weekend’s dramatic, see-saw series at No. 17 Arizona State and Friday night’s walk-off win over the Wildcats (23-17, 9-14), Saturday’s matchup came with virtually no stress.
Oregon State built a commanding 8-1 lead in the fourth inning, then cruised, as seven Beavers mashed 13 hits and four had multi-hit performances. OSU reached double-digits in hits for the eighth time this month and reached double-digits in runs for the seventh time.
Mason Guerra went 2 for 4 with a two-run home run, four RBIs and two runs scored. Micah McDowell finished 3 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Brady Kasper had three hits and three RBIs. And Travis Bazzana had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
Amid all the fireworks, Kmatz quietly turned in the best performance of his career. The 6-foot-3 sophomore allowed two runs on five hits, while striking out eight, over 6 2/3 commanding innings. In the longest outing of his college career, Kmatz equaled his career-high in strikeouts. And it was all the more impressive considering it came against the Pac-12′s best offense, which averages 11.7 hits and 8.5 runs per game, while leading the conference with a .319 batting average.
“He was tearing it up today,” Guerra said. “He was keeping them off balance, throwing pretty much all of his pitches for strikes and really making it easy to play defense behind him.”
It was the latest standout outing in a resurgent April for Kmatz, whose record (3-4) does not reflect how well he’s thrown this month. In five April starts, Kmatz is 2-0 with a 3.21 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 28 innings, as the Beavers have gone 4-1. If not for a little tough luck — he has three no-decisions during the stretch — Kmatz would be sitting on a winning record.
“I feel like I’ve given my team a chance to win every week, so that’s all I can do as a starter,” Kmatz said. “It really doesn’t matter what the stats look like or anything like that.”
He said all five of his pitches were working Saturday as he pounded the zone with strikes and kept the ball down on hitters. He came within one batter of tossing seven complete innings for the first time in his career, but after beaning No. 3 hitter Chase Davis with two outs in the sixth, OSU pitching coach Rich Dorman pulled Kmatz for reliever Ben Ferrer.
But the move didn’t come without a plea from the Beavers’ Saturday starter.
“I was trying to get that last one … I tried to fight it,” Kmatz said. “I was like, ‘I got him, what are we throwing? Let’s go.’ He said, No, ‘We’ve got Benny.’ And I was like, ‘No, I got him. I got him. Let’s go.’ But it didn’t happen.”
After 99 pitches and with cleanup hitter Kiko Romero (3 for 4, two RBIs) stepping to the plate, Kmatz’s pitch fell on deaf ears. As he departed the game, the sellout crowd delivered a standing ovation and Kmatz returned the favor, clapping into his mitt as he strolled to the home dugout.
His performance helped the Beavers move into fourth place in the Pac-12, 1 1/2 games behind the third-place Oregon Ducks (13-7), with seven conference games left. Since an inauspicious start to the conference season — the Beavers were 1-5 in Pac-12 play through six games — Oregon State has gone 12-5 to thrust itself back near the top of the standings.
“We’re playing really good, we’re playing really loose and all the guys, we trust each other,” Guerra said. “We’re just having a lot of fun right now.”
Next up: The teams conclude their three-game series Sunday afternoon at 1:05 at Goss stadium.
Joe Freeman reported from Corvallis
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