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Jordan Lennerton was 1 for 3 Saturday against the Purple Aces, and helped the Beavers to a 6-2 win at home. OSU opened its home season with three straight wins over No. 25 Evansville and next week will take to the turf again, hosting the San Francisco Dons.

No. 8 Beavers complete sweep of Evansville

By: Casey Grogan

Posted: 3/12/07

The Beavers played strong, fundamental baseball Saturday in a 3-2 victory over Evansville to complete a three-game sweep of the Purple Aces.

"It wasn't vital that we won all three games," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "But it sure was nice."

Terrific defense and pitching helped the No. 8 Beavers (17-3 overall) hang on to a small lead early in the game. No. 25 Evansville (9-7) went up 1-0 after the first inning, before OSU center fielder Chris Hopkins flashed some leather.

Tracking a shallow fly to center, Hopkins took a step back to read the ball before sprinting in as the ball began to die. Right fielder Scotty Berke was sprinting after the ball as well and dove to make the catch. Hopkins dove over Berke's body, coming up with the catch. Hopkins was shook up by the play, but would be OK and continued to play.

Hopkins' grab may have sparked the Beaver bats in the second inning. Third baseman Drew George reached first safely on a swinging bunt which extended his hitting streak to six games. After a Dale Solomon walk, Berke laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners 90 feet. Catcher Erik Ammon followed with an RBI base hit, and Solomon scored on a Lonnie Lechelt sacrifice fly to centerfield.

Casey has been looking for his team to hit throughout the line up, and OSU responded as it continued to hit the ball hard through out the game. The Beavers swung the bats so well that Evansville ace Kai Tuomi and reliever Matt Brinkman finished the game with no strikeouts.

"We had great crowds, and Evansville is a good club," Casey said. "They really defended well today. I thought we had a chance to score more runs but they kept us from doing it."

OSU starter Daniel Turpen had a strong outing, striking out six and giving up two runs in seven innings on just over 100 pitches. Turpen's outing put his record at 5-0, and showed that his near complete game against St. Louis was no fluke.

"I think confidence has a lot to do with it," Turpen said. "Last year at the World Series and this year early in the season I started doing well. [I'm] just trying to build on it and go out there thinking nobody can beat me."

With the game tied 2-2, leftfielder Mike Lissman's double to the warning track plated shortstop Darwin Barney for the game-winning run.

In the eighth inning OSU turned to its bullpen to finish things out. With the Beavers up 3-2, freshman pitcher Jorge Reyes got two quick outs, before senior Anton Maxwell was inserted into the game for a better match-up and got a three-pitch strikeout.

"I don't think our bullpen has dropped off at all," Turpen said. "We've got Jorge, Keitzman, Anton and Eddie to close it out. I think we're in good shape no matter who we put in."

In the ninth inning, Evansville met up with preseason All-American Second Team pitcher Eddie Kunz, who got three outs on nine pitches for the save.

Friday, after being down 2-0 in the sixth inning, catcher Mitch Canham delivered a grand slam for Oregon State's first four runs in a 6-2 victory. OSU also beat the Purple Aces 9-2 Thursday in the series' opener.

Oregon State returns to action at home Friday against the San Francisco Dons.

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Casey Grogan, sports writer

sports@dailybarometer.com