Say this for the Oregon State baseball team: The Beavers scored three more runs Friday than they did one night before.
But the rest of Game 2 of their three-game series at USC was a disaster.
The No. 2 Beavers committed a season-high six errors and USC scored 14 runs across the fourth and fifth innings on the way to a 17-4 rout of Oregon State at Cicerone Field in Irvine, California.
The Trojans clinched the series victory one night after beating OSU 2-1 in the opener, leaving the Beavers to hope they can turn things around when the teams meet for their series finale at 1 p.m. Saturday.
It was an auspicious beginning for the Beavers as Travis Bazzana launched a leadoff home run for the fifth time in the past six games.
But Bazzana’s 15th homer of the season would not be nearly enough as the wheels fell off for OSU in the middle innings.
Beavers starter Jacob Kmatz allowed a one-out homer to Jacob Galloway in the bottom of the fourth, and USC then tacked on three more runs before Kmatz got KaiKea Harrison to ground into a double play to end the inning with USC leading 4-1.
Oregon State (21-4, 5-3 Pac-12) responded in the top of the fifth as Mason Guerra singled through the right side to score Bazzana and Tanner Smith.
It was a parade of runs for the Trojans (11-15, 6-5) in the bottom of the fifth, however. First, Ryan Jackson’s RBI single with one out chased Kmatz. OSU relievers Tephen Montgomery and Matthew Morrell could not record an out, though, combining to allow seven runs amid walks, hits, wild pitches and fielding errors. Jaren Hunter would come on in relief for the Beavers, and by the time he got Brayden Dowd to line out, the Trojans had put 10 runs on the board for a 14-3 lead.
Oregon State mustered one more run in the sixth, but USC answered with two of its own in that inning and one more in the seventh to make it 17-4.
The 17 runs were a USC single-game record all-time against Oregon State.
Kmatz took the loss, falling to 3-1 on the season. He was charged with six hits and seven runs (six earned), with two walks and one strikeout in 4 1/3 innings.
-- Joel Odom