It took a few innings, but the Oregon State Beavers’ bats woke up in plenty of time to continue the team’s smoking hot spring.
Travis Bazzana belted a home run in the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie and eight OSU pitchers silenced the best offense in the West Coast Conference Tuesday, as the 15th-ranked Beavers beat the Portland Pilots 4-2 at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro.
Pilots right-hander Peter Allegro mowed through the Oregon State lineup for five dominant innings, allowing just one hit and two walks to quiet a surging offense that entered the game batting .375 and averaging 9.3 runs per game in May.
But Bazzana finally broke through in the sixth, crushing a solo home run to right field against reliever Joey Gartrell. An inning later, Mason Guerra smacked a leadoff single up the middle to chase Gartrell, then scored four batters later on a Tanner Smith sacrifice fly.
The Beavers (34-14) added a pair of runs in the ninth, using a mix of small ball and timely hitting to give them all the cushion they would need. Dallas Macias, who went 2 for 3 with a run scored, opened the inning with a leadoff double down the right field line. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Smith, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Kyle Dernedde, giving OSU a 3-0 lead.
Oregon State pushed its lead to 4-0 later in the inning, when Bazzana walked, stole second base and scored when Garret Forrester ripped an RBI single to center. Bazzana finished 1 for 3 with two walks, two runs scored and two stolen bases, giving him 32 for the season.
The ninth-inning runs proved valuable because the Pilots answered with two of their own in the bottom of the frame, when they touched up OSU closer Ryan Brown. Evan Scavotto worked a leadoff walk to open the inning, then Zach Toglia and Briley Knight responded with back-to-back doubles.
But Brown settled down from there, ending the threat with three consecutive strikeouts to polish off the win. Eight Oregon State pitchers worked Tuesday, and the first seven were dominant, surrendering just three hits and no runs. Ian Lawson (3-0), who worked 2/3 of an inning in the fifth, earned the win.
It was an impressive performance considering the Pilots (24-19) entered the game leading the WCC in batting average (.302), hits (453) and runs per game (7.2).
Oregon State won for the eighth time in the last nine games and improved to 20-5 since March 26.
Next up: The Beavers visit the UCLA Bruins Friday at 7 p.m. in the opener of a three-game series in Los Angeles. It will be OSU’s final Pac-12 series of the season. The Pilots host Santa Clara Friday at 6 p.m. in the opener of a three-game series on The Bluff.
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
