USC blown out by Oregon State, setting up regional final rematch on Monday
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CORVALLIS, Ore. — USC wanted to be aggressive knowing it was entering a hostile environment, playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,347 at Goss Stadium.
The Trojans tried to set the tone early.
Instead, it backfired, costing them early opportunities, early momentum and ultimately Sunday night’s matchup in a 14-1 loss to Oregon State in the Corvallis Regional final. USC has a chance for redemption Monday. Oregon State’s win forces a winner-take-all regional Game 7 slated for 3 p.m. PDT (ESPNU).
USC opened with two hard hits. Brayden Dowd singled and Ethan Hedges followed with a rocket to right-center field that came off the bat at 104 mph. It one-hopped the wall for an easy double that could have set the Trojans up with two runners in scoring position and no outs. But USC third base coach Travis Jewett was spinning his arm almost immediately, sending Dowd home.
Shortstop Aiva Arquette, an expected top 10 pick in next month’s MLB draft, fired a throw home that brought catcher Wilson Weber into the baseline where he applied the tag to Dowd while his knee collided with the head of the Trojans’ outfielder. Dowd, who had been woozy in the immediate aftermath of the play, left the game an inning later.
“Didn’t work out well for us, but we were trying to get on the board quick and be aggressive,” USC head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. “Hindsight is always 20/20, right? You can’t play the ‘What if?’ game. Didn’t work our way.”
The play invigorated the home crowd and set the tone for the beatdown to follow that saw the No. 8 national seed Beavers thoroughly outplay the Trojans despite playing its second game of the day facing elimination. Oregon State pummeled Saint Mary’s 20-3 on Sunday afternoon to reach the final.
The next half inning, Oregon State attacked USC with four bunts that helped generate four runs. The Trojans’ aggressiveness again bit them.
After they took the out at first on an initial sacrifice attempt, the Trojans twice tried to cut down runners at home with ill-fated results. Third baseman Hedges muffed a barehand attempt when the ball bounced with funky spin on a hard bunt that one-hopped. The Beavers bunted again on the next pitch. First baseman Adrian Lopez tried to come home, but it was too late.
“We were just trying to slow the momentum down a little bit,” Stankiewicz said. “It’s kind of a catch-22, you stay aggressive and you get a big out there, you minimize the inning. If you don’t [be aggressive], you get an out, but it’s an opportunity for more guys to [score], and in my mind, we weren’t pitching real well. I felt like let’s try to mow down some runs as quick as we can, but good job by them. They did a nice job of creating pressure and creating runs.”
A base hit through the middle scored the next run before Oregon State went back to the bunt to score the fourth run, prompting the crowd to start chanting “Small Ball! Small Ball! Small Ball!”
Oregon State added two runs in the third inning to take a 6-1 lead before a rare offensive lull on a day it scored 34 runs on 38 hits. The Beavers went two innings without scoring, which led to USC having a huge opportunity to get back in the game. The Trojans loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning and had the heart of the lineup due up.
But the Beavers’ pitching staff had USC’s 3-4-5 hitters in a blender all night. Starter Wyatt Queen struck out Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek for the third time before turning the ball over to reliever Kellan Oakes. He struck out Lopez and Abbrie Covarrubias to escape the jam unscathed. USC finished the night with 16 strikeouts as a team with nine different hitters taking the short walk back to the dugout.
Oregon State then piled on runs against the lesser-used arms in USC’s bullpen, scoring three runs in the sixth on Trent Caraway’s fourth home run in as many games in the Corvallis Regional brought home three runs in the sixth. The Beavers added two runs in the seventh and eighth innings and one final tally in the ninth.
Caraway reached base five times with two walks and three of Oregon State’s 17 hits. He finished with three runs scored and four RBIs. Tyce Peterson was a perfect 4 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Jack Basseer led USC’s offense with three hits, including a triple, and the Trojans’ lone run.
“We just got flat out beat tonight,” Stankiewicz said. “We just got to regroup, let it go, flush it and come out ready. We’ve responded really well all year after some tough losses, so we’ll be ready to roll tomorrow.”
Monday’s victor will take on Florida State next weekend after the Seminoles won the Tallahassee Regional. USC would travel to Florida. Oregon State would host a Corvallis Super Regional.
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