After belting a triple deep to the right-center field gap, Oregon State infielder Dallas Macias glanced at the home dugout from third base, flashed a toothy smile and folded his arms in a nonchalant celebration.
He might as well have exhaled, too.
The Beavers broke out of their March malaise with a convincing and much-needed victory Wednesday night, defeating the Nevada Wolf Pack 12-1 in a midweek matchup in Corvallis.
After scoring just five runs in their previous three games — all home defeats — Oregon State’s offense awoke from its spring slumber, producing its most runs this month to end a three-game losing streak.
“There was a little different feeling tonight,” OSU shortstop Kyle Dernedde said. “It kind of felt like, you know, the joke’s over. We knew we needed to take care of business.”
And the Beavers (12-5) wasted no time doing so.
Micah McDowell opened the first inning with a leadoff single and before you blinked — just five batters into the game — the Beavers had scored more runs (three) than they had in their previous two games combined (two).
Garret Forrester brought home the first run by taking a fastball off the ear flap with the bases loaded and Mason Guerra followed with a two-run single, ripping a ball into left field to score Travis Bazzana and Gavin Turley.
By the end of the first, the Beavers’ struggling offense had sent 10 batters to the plate, scored five runs and released a gigantic sigh of relief.
“I like that the offense showed up,” OSU coach Mitch Canham said, “and decided that they were going to take their walks and drive the ball all over the field. Obviously, you want to see guys rebound after a couple of disappointing games not playing like we should. It was good to go out and get it done before we’ve got to jump on an early bird.”
And by bird, Canham meant flight. The Beavers had a 6 a.m. bus ride scheduled for Thursday, when they would be driving to Portland for an early-morning flight to the Bay Area and a crucial weekend series at No. 9 Stanford.
Perhaps the most important part of Wednesday’s win — and sidestepping that three-game slumb — was the timing.
“We really wanted that swag back before we head to Palo Alto,” Dernedde said.
After the fast first inning against Nevada (9-8), Oregon State broke the game open in the third, adding three more runs on back-to-back doubles from Tanner Smith and Dernedde. The second double, a two-run shot to the gap by Dernedde, pushed the Beavers’ lead to 8-0. The eight runs were more than they had scored in eight of their previous nine games in March.
By the end of the night, OSU has scored its most runs since Feb. 24, when it rolled Coppin State 19-5, thanks to nine hits and 11 walks. Eight Beavers finished with a hit, including Guerra, who went 2 for 5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Macias and Easton Talt put an exclamation point on the breakout night in the seventh, recording their first college hits, ripping a two-run triple and a run-scoring single, respectively, in back-to-back at-bats.
All the while, the Beavers’ sturdy-as-nails bullpen turned in another solid performance. Five OSU relievers pitched Wednesday and all but one cruised through the Wolf Pack lineup. David Grewe tossed 2 2/3 hitless innings to earn his first win, striking out five and walking one. And Jacob Krieg, Nelson Keljo and Braden Boisvert combined to strike out six and allow just one hit over four innings.
The bullpen, which entered the game with a 2.23 ERA and 78 strikeouts — with just 56 hits — in 68 2/3 innings, improved to 8-0 this season.
And now the Beavers head to Stanford, looking to show they’re the team that opened the season 11-2 rather than the team that lost three in a row at home.
“We had a little skud and we kind of let it snowball a little bit, which is obviously something we really did not want to have happen,” Dernedde said. “But we’re learning right now. We’re learning how to compete together. We want to be playing our best baseball at the end of the season, so it’s good to get this out of the way now and learn how to respond to something like this. We’re ready to compete this weekend against Stanford.”
Next up: The Beavers open a three-game series at 7 p.m. Friday at Stanford.
— Joe Freeman reported from Corvallis.
jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
