Oregon State baseball sweeps Arizona State – Portland Tribune

SATURDAY COLLEGE RESULTS/Thompson’s solid start caps weekend of great pitching by Beavers; Ducks go to 26-0 in softball with 2-1 victory vs. Cal

BASEBALL

Oregon State 4, Arizona State 0

At Tempe, Arizona

Oregon State got 14 hits to go with the capper on a weekend of great pitching.

The result was a sweep of the three-game series that opened OSU’s Pac-12 season.

The Beavers, ranked as high as No. 1 in the national polls, came away with a 17-1 overall record. They’ve won 12 in a row.

ASU fell to 9-10.

Junior right-hander Jake Thompson (5-0) from Siuslaw High put together 7 1/3 innings of two-hit pitching, with three walks and a career-high 10 strikeouts. He threw 96 pitches.

Freshman lefty Jake Mulholland took over the rest of the way. He gave up one hit, a two-out triple in the ninth, and struck out two.

A ground out by Tyler Malone scored the first run in the third inning. Christian Donahue had an RBI single in the fourth, and the Beavers doubled their lead to 4-0 in the seventh with run-scoring singles by Elliott Cary and Cadyn Grenier.

Jake Madrigal, the Beavers’ leadoff man, was 2 for 5, extending his hitting streak to 10 games, and KJ Harrison went 3 for 4 with two doubles. Cary was 2 for 5, and Grenier went 2 for 4.

SOFTBALL

Oregon 2, California 1

At Jane Sanders Stadium

The No. 3 Ducks remained the only unbeaten in the country, coming from behind to clinch a series victory over the Bears, who are ranked 23rd in one national poll.

Oregon leads the series 2-0 going into Sunday’s noon finale.

Cal took a 1-0 lead in Saturday’s first inning. Oregon tied the score on Nikki Udria’s home run in the fourth and went ahead in the fifth when Danica Mercado tripled home Sammie Puentes.

Miranda Elish (6-0) went the distance for Oregon, allowing six hits and two walks, with seven strikeouts.

Arizona 6, Oregon State 2

At OSU Softball Complex

OSU led fifth-ranked Arizona 2-1 going into the top of the sixth inning of its Pac-12 opener. Sammi Noland homered with one aboard in the Beavers’ fourth.

But the Wildcats tied the score with a home run in the sixth and won with a four-run seventh capped by a three-run HR.

Reliever Meehra Nelson (3-2) took the loss.

Oregon State dropped to 15-9 overall. Arizona, which will play the Beavs again at 3 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday, is 27-1.