GAME 1 - OREGONIAN: Oregon Ducks rough up Kevin Abel, end Oregon State Beavers’ 10-game winning streak with 7-0 baseball victory (1 photo, article)
By Joe Freeman | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Oregon Ducks rough up Kevin Abel, end Oregon State Beavers’ 10-game winning streak with 7-0 baseball victory
An ace breezed through the batting order with overpowering stuff Friday night at Goss Stadium, piling up strikeouts and pushing his team to a lopsided victory.
But it’s probably not the ace you’re thinking of.
Robert Ahlstrom baffled Oregon State Beavers batters over seven shutout innings, outdueling star Kevin Abel to carry the Oregon Ducks to an impressive 7-0 win in the opener of a three-game series.
It was the Ducks’ fifth consecutive victory on the road against a ranked team — they swept a four-game series at then-No. 15 UC Santa Barbara last week — and it ended a 10-game winning streak for the 16th-ranked Beavers (10-2), who lost for the first time since the season opener on Feb. 19.
“I would just say we didn’t play a complete game,” Oregon State coach Mitch Canham said.
One might also note that the Beavers had no answer for Ahlstrom (1-0). Making just his second start of the season, the 6-foot-2 left-hander surrendered just three hits and struck out a career-high 10 in an efficient and overwhelming outing. He needed just 78 pitches to finish seven innings and 62 were strikes as he worked ahead in the count and kept the Beavers off balance all night. Oregon State advanced just one baserunner past first base in the game and it came when shortstop Andy Armstrong stole second after leading off the inning with an infield single.
Otherwise, Ahlstrom allowed a pair of singles — one in the first and another in the second — and no walks, growing stronger and more dominant as the game went on. The Eugene native, who has not allowed a run in 10 innings this season, fanned seven of the last 12 hitters he faced.
“I don’t think we did a good job with our pitch selection,” Canham said. “I thought we took too many pitches and then chased some things that were out of the zone on us.”
Abel, meanwhile, labored through his worst start of the season. After cruising through a 1-2-3 first, during which he threw just 13 pitches and ended with back-to-back strikeouts, the ace right-hander ran into trouble in the second inning.
He walked Aaron Zavala to lead things off, then put him in scoring position with a wild pitch while facing Josh Kasevich. The gaffe proved costly when Kasevich knocked a single to right field to score Zavala. Before you knew it, Tanner Smith smacked a two-out, bases-loaded triple to right center to score three more.
After delivering a 4-0 lead for the Ducks (7-2) with the sliding triple, Smith popped up and pumped his fist in celebration as the visiting dugout went bonkers in the otherwise silent, spectator-less stadium.
Three innings later, Kenyon Yovan crushed a home run to right-center off Abel — the first he’s allowed this season — and it was clear he didn’t have his best stuff. Canham pulled Abel two batters later, and his night was over after allowing six hits, three walks and five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Heading into the game, Abel (1-1) had given up just five hits and one earned run total in three starts.
“We’ve got to do a better job of getting ahead in the count,” Canham said. “A couple times we were just giving up some free bases. It looked like, especially early, each time he walked or (allowed a) hit by pitch, those guys ended up scoring. And that’s not the kind of baseball that we want to play. So we’ve got to do our best to eliminate those things. Obviously he’s got swing-and-miss stuff, but one big inning and that got the lead.”
Smith, who added an RBI-single in the sixth, went 2 for 5 with four RBIs, and Yovan, the reigning national player of the week, went 2 for 5 with two RBIs.
PREGAME
Oregon State Beavers (10-1) vs. Oregon Ducks (6-2)
When: 5:35 pm. PT Friday, March 12
Where: Goss Stadium, Corvallis
TV channel: The game is not televised.
Live stream: Oregon State will stream the game on its web site. Visit the OSU baseball schedule page and click the “watch” link on the corresponding schedule tab. You can also listen live online by accessing the live broadcast tab on the baseball schedule page or via the TuneIn application on smartphones and tablets (by searching Beaver Sports Network).
But it’s probably not the ace you’re thinking of.
Robert Ahlstrom baffled Oregon State Beavers batters over seven shutout innings, outdueling star Kevin Abel to carry the Oregon Ducks to an impressive 7-0 win in the opener of a three-game series.
It was the Ducks’ fifth consecutive victory on the road against a ranked team — they swept a four-game series at then-No. 15 UC Santa Barbara last week — and it ended a 10-game winning streak for the 16th-ranked Beavers (10-2), who lost for the first time since the season opener on Feb. 19.
“I would just say we didn’t play a complete game,” Oregon State coach Mitch Canham said.
One might also note that the Beavers had no answer for Ahlstrom (1-0). Making just his second start of the season, the 6-foot-2 left-hander surrendered just three hits and struck out a career-high 10 in an efficient and overwhelming outing. He needed just 78 pitches to finish seven innings and 62 were strikes as he worked ahead in the count and kept the Beavers off balance all night. Oregon State advanced just one baserunner past first base in the game and it came when shortstop Andy Armstrong stole second after leading off the inning with an infield single.
Otherwise, Ahlstrom allowed a pair of singles — one in the first and another in the second — and no walks, growing stronger and more dominant as the game went on. The Eugene native, who has not allowed a run in 10 innings this season, fanned seven of the last 12 hitters he faced.
“I don’t think we did a good job with our pitch selection,” Canham said. “I thought we took too many pitches and then chased some things that were out of the zone on us.”
Abel, meanwhile, labored through his worst start of the season. After cruising through a 1-2-3 first, during which he threw just 13 pitches and ended with back-to-back strikeouts, the ace right-hander ran into trouble in the second inning.
He walked Aaron Zavala to lead things off, then put him in scoring position with a wild pitch while facing Josh Kasevich. The gaffe proved costly when Kasevich knocked a single to right field to score Zavala. Before you knew it, Tanner Smith smacked a two-out, bases-loaded triple to right center to score three more.
After delivering a 4-0 lead for the Ducks (7-2) with the sliding triple, Smith popped up and pumped his fist in celebration as the visiting dugout went bonkers in the otherwise silent, spectator-less stadium.
Three innings later, Kenyon Yovan crushed a home run to right-center off Abel — the first he’s allowed this season — and it was clear he didn’t have his best stuff. Canham pulled Abel two batters later, and his night was over after allowing six hits, three walks and five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Heading into the game, Abel (1-1) had given up just five hits and one earned run total in three starts.
“We’ve got to do a better job of getting ahead in the count,” Canham said. “A couple times we were just giving up some free bases. It looked like, especially early, each time he walked or (allowed a) hit by pitch, those guys ended up scoring. And that’s not the kind of baseball that we want to play. So we’ve got to do our best to eliminate those things. Obviously he’s got swing-and-miss stuff, but one big inning and that got the lead.”
Smith, who added an RBI-single in the sixth, went 2 for 5 with four RBIs, and Yovan, the reigning national player of the week, went 2 for 5 with two RBIs.
PREGAME
Oregon State Beavers (10-1) vs. Oregon Ducks (6-2)
When: 5:35 pm. PT Friday, March 12
Where: Goss Stadium, Corvallis
TV channel: The game is not televised.
Live stream: Oregon State will stream the game on its web site. Visit the OSU baseball schedule page and click the “watch” link on the corresponding schedule tab. You can also listen live online by accessing the live broadcast tab on the baseball schedule page or via the TuneIn application on smartphones and tablets (by searching Beaver Sports Network).
