The Oregon State baseball team’s season-opening surge enjoyed a taste of the major leagues on Wednesday.
The No. 7 Beavers coasted to another decisive victory, using timely hitting and opportune pitching to defeat the No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders 10-4 at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers.
It was the opener of a four-game series in Arlington, Texas, but a change of scenery did nothing to change the outcome for the Beavers (5-0), who earned their first win this season against a ranked opponent.
The win was unlike any other for OSU this season. The Beavers had fewer hits (10-8) and fewer runners (22-18) than the Red Raiders, did not hit a home run and scored in just three innings. But for an offense that has opened the season on a tear, it didn’t matter — the Beavers still scored in double figures for the third time in five games.
Oregon State plated its first in the second inning, when Gavin Turley scored with two outs on a botched pickoff attempt at first base by Red Raiders starting pitcher Jacob Rogers. An inning later, the Beavers broke the game open, scoring five runs to take a 6-0 lead.
Trent Caraway led off the inning with a double down the third base line, Travis Bazzana followed with a four-pitch walk and Micah McDowell responded with a double down the right field line to score Caraway. It opened the floodgates. Oregon State added runs on a bases-loaded walk, two sacrifice flies and a wild pitch, capitalizing on shoddy Texas Tech pitching and multiple miscues.
The Beavers added four runs in the sixth, using three free bases and a pair of clutch, two-out hits. Mason Guerra had the big swing in the inning, ripping a bases-loaded liner down the left field line to score three, and Brady Kasper followed with an RBI single to give the Beavers a 10-4 edge.
Oregon State finished with eight hits — its fewest this season — but took advantage of 10 free passes (seven walks, three hit batters) and a bevy of timely hits. The Beavers went 5 for 13 with two outs and 4 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
McDowell had two hits, including that RBI double, and scored two runs; Turley went 2 for 4 with a double; and Kasper went 1 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored, extending his hitting streak to 10 games dating to last season.
Texas Tech (3-2) briefly made things interesting in the fourth, scoring four runs on three hits and an error. But every other time the Beavers ran into trouble — which wasn’t very often — the staff or the defense staved off catastrophe. Right-hander AJ Lattery, who started and pitched two innings, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second with a pair of strikeouts, and the Beavers turned a 6-4-3 double play to escape a bases-loaded situation in the eighth.
The Red Raiders finished 4 for 23 with runners on base, including just 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position, as OSU relievers made enough key pitches at important times to avoid trouble.
Ian Lawson (1-0) earned his first win of the season, tossing three innings in relief of Lattery. Lawson allowed one run and three inherited runners to score in the fourth, but finished strong, retiring seven of the final eight batters he faced.
Next up: The Beavers play No. 2 Arkansas at 5 p.m. Friday in the Kubota College Baseball Series.
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.