Beavers one win away from hosting Super Regional after putting it all together in romp past Toreros

Third-base coach Ryan Gipson congratulates second baseman Travis Bazzana after his ninth-inning homer in Oregon State’s 12-3 pasting of San Diego Saturday night at Goss Stadium (Scobel Wiggins/OSU athletics)

CORVALLIS — If there were a blueprint for how Oregon State wants to play during the rest of the postseason, it came in the Beavers’ 12-3 demolition of San Diego Saturday night at Goss Stadium.

A night after needing 10 innings to slip past unsung New Mexico State in their Corvallis Regional opener, the Beavers put it all together against an excellent Torero team.

“It was a much better day,” OSU coach Mitch Canham said. “That was the kind of performance we anticipated these guys going out and doing. One through nine — and really, one through 27 — they performed extremely well.”

Only 11 players saw action for the Beavers, the top seed in the Regional and the No. 3 seed nationwide. What Canham meant was he appreciated the support from his players in the dugout, the all-for-one, one-for-all approach he has espoused since taking over the OSU helm three years ago.

The Beavers (46-15) hit, pitched and defended their way to an easy victory that puts them one win away from hosting a Super Regional next weekend. With freshman right-hander Jacob Kmatz (8-1, 3.89) on the mound, they will face the winner of a San Diego-Vanderbilt rematch in a 6 p.m. Sunday affair.

)Were I a betting man, I’d pick Vanderbilt — a 21-1 victor over New Mexico State in Saturday’d elimination game — as Oregon State’s Sunday night opponent. But that’s why they play the games.)

If the Beavers prevail in Sunday night’s matchup, they move on. If they lose, they’ll return Monday at 1 p.m. for an elimination game against the same opponent. The Toreros and Commodores are both in the same boat — they must win three more games to advance.

“You start 2-0 in a Regional, you’re in the driver’s seat,” junior left-fielder Wade Meckler said. “Yesterday, I felt like we played tight as a group. We felt the pressure of postseason a little bit. We came back and played loose today, played free, played the way we can. That’s extremely important in the postseason.”

Oregon State amassed a dozen hits — half of them for extra bases — turned three double-plays and got solid pitching from Jake Pfennigs and Brock Townsend to beat the No. 3 seed Toreros (37-19), who upset No. 2 seed Vanderbilt in Friday’s tournament opener.

“We played a complete game, first inning through ninth inning — putting up runs, keeping the pressure on them the whole time,” said junior designated hitter Jake Dukart, whose two-run triple highlighted a four-run first inning.

The Beavers were gifted their first two runs. Jacob Melton’s routine groundball went through the legs of San Diego third baseman Jack Costello into left field, allowing Justin Boyd and Meckler — who had both singled — to score.

“San Diego has an offense where they’ll hit and run, put themselves in motion and try to put pressure on the defense,” Canham said. “When we scored four right out of the game, it made it hard for them to play their game.”

Oregon State added a pair of runs in the second and third innings to go on top 8-0. The Toreros were chasing butterflies the rest of the way.

“Gotta give (the Beavers) credit,” said Brock Ungricht, San Diego’s first-year coach. “They did a great job swinging the bats all the way through. They were relentless. We had the early error — you can’t give a really good team like that more opportunities. Four runs in the first, two in the second and third, one in the fourth — they never go away.”

Meanwhile, OSU starter Jake Pfennigs — who had failed to get through the first inning while throwing 42 pitches in a loss to UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament last weekend — gave 5 1/3 innings of good work, scattering six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Then Townsend came on to provide 3 2/3 innings of stellar relief, allowing no runs and one hit with no walks and five strikeouts. His work allowed OSU pitching coach Rich Dorman to rest the top two arms in the bullpen — Ben Ferrer and closer Ryan Brown, who both had pitched against New Mexico State.

“It puts us in good position with our bullpen tomorrow,” Canham said.

Pfennigs benefitted from double-plays initiated by first baseman Garret Forrester, shortstop Kyle Dernedde and third baseman Matthew Gretler. The Beavers, who led the nation in fielding percentage during the regular season but had faltered through six games of the postseason, had a clean sheet Saturday. All three outfielders made nice catches on deep fly balls.

“That’s what we expect all the time,” Canham said of the defense. “Melton covered a lot of ground in centerfield. We have an outfield that does that. Today, the confidence our infield was playing with was at a much higher level than it has been.”

Meckler led the offense, going 3 for 4 and scoring three runs. Forrester had two hits — he is 5 for 9 in the two Regional games — scored two runs and had three RBIs. The bottom of the order came through, with No. 8 Gretler and No. 9 Dernedde each bagging a pair of hits and Dukart lacing the two-run triple. Gretler has gone 2 for 5 in each of the Regional contests.

The Toreros are not used to playing in inclement weather such as what they experienced Saturday night. Rainfall was light until about the sixth inning, though, and by then, the issue was decided. Right-fielder Angelo Peraza — who belted a solo homer off Pfennigs in the fifth — wasn’t using weather as an excuse.

“It wasn’t too bad,” he said. “You just have to battle through it. It wasn’t much of a big deal.”

There were several memorable plays for the Beavers, including second baseman Travis Bazzana’s race from first base to score after a strikeout by Dukart in the seventh — something this writer has never seen.

“That’s a first for me,” Canham said.

Dukart was ruled out while taking a called third strike (a dubious call, incidentally). Bazzana had broken for second in what amounted to a delayed steal. San Diego catcher Caleb Ricketts threw to second, but nobody was covering. The ball headed to centerfield as Bazzana motored to third. Centerfielder Dustin Allen’s throw missed the cut-off man and Bazzana wheeled to the plate and scored standing up.

Said Canham with a laugh: “Travis explained it in the dugout, (talking) a million miles an hour: ‘As soon as he threw it to the middle, I was going the whole way.’ “

A night earlier, Bazzana had gotten picked off second base, was thrown out trying to steal second base and was nearly doubled up when he ventured too far off second on a fly ball.

“He was very aware this time,” Canham said. “Sometimes the aggressive mentality can get you in trouble. You have to go through those experiences to understand what you can or can’t do.

“(When Bazzana scored) it created a ton of energy for everyone in the dugout. It was a fun moment.”

So, too, was a play made by Townsend on a dribbler by Allen toward the first base side in the eighth. The junior right-hander picked it up, but dropped it. Then he grabbed the ball with his glove and flipped it backhand to Forrester, beating Allen to the bag by a hair as the pitcher performed a tuck-and-roll maneuver in recovery.

Bazzana had another moment, launching the first pitch over the right-field fence — and the stands behind it — for his fifth homer of the season and the game’s final run in the ninth. He got the silent treatment after he crossed home plate, arranged by one of his scheming teammates. You can do that with a nine-run lead.

“Our guys were prepared, showed energy, had fun and went after it every inning,” Canham said. “They executed early and often.”

Umbricht was asked if the Beavers were as good a team as he has seen this season.

“Absolutely,” he said. “All the way, one through nine. They can burn you with the long ball, burn you in the gap.”

At the Fort Worth Regional a year ago, Oregon State dropped its opener to host Dallas Baptist 6-5, then won three straight before falling to the Patriots 8-5 in the championship game.

“We learned the hard way last year, losing that first game, then having to win five in a row,” Dukart said. “We’re in much better position now. We have fresh pitching. We just have to come out with the same energy and confidence that we did today.”

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