Arizona baseball drops series-opener to No. 4 Oregon State, 6-2

Some costly errors and a dormant offense doomed the Wildcats

The No. 4 Oregon State Beavers took down the Arizona Wildcats, 6-2, on Friday night in the first game of a three-game set in front of 4,645.

OSU starter Bryce Fehmel got his fourth win of the season, pitching 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and one earned run. He walked two and struck out three.

Arizona junior right-hander Cody Deason (3-2) lasted six innings, but allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and four walks. He struck out four.

The first five innings of the game foreshadowed a pitcher’s duel, as each side only surrendered a single run.

OSU’s Steven Kwan plated Cayden Grenier on a flawless hit-and-run in the third, which was matched by a solo homer by Arizona third baseman Nick Quintana in the fourth.

OSU had loaded the bases in the top half of the fourth, but Deason struck out two Beavers to escape the jam.

OSU blew the game open in the sixth.

With one out, Deason walked Tyler Malone then Michael Gretler drove him in with a double off the left-center wall.

Then Jack Anderson was intentionally walked, and junior Zack Taylor squeaked out an infield single to load the bases.

The next batter, Grenier, laced a hard ground ball to Arizona shortstop Travis Minot for a sure double play, but Minot bobbled the ball and two runs scored, giving the Beavers a 4-1 advantage.

Two innings later, Grenier hit an RBI double down the right field line off UA reliever Robby Medel to make it 5-1.

Arizona second baseman Cameron Cannon, who made a nice diving stop to end the sixth, homered in the bottom half of the eighth to cut the deficit to 5-2, but OSU tacked on another unearned run in the ninth.

Oregon State finished with eight hits and left 12 on-base. Arizona had six hits; Quintana and Donte Williams each had two.

Jay Johnson summarizing the difference tonight: "Their hitters did a little better job making it tougher on Cody (Deason) to collect outs than our guys did on Bryce Fehmel." (1/2)

— WildcatUniverse.com (@Scott_Terrell) April 7, 2018

The Wildcats didn’t get much production from the top of their order as centerfielder Cal Stevenson, first baseman Alfonso Rivas, and catcher Cesar Salazar were a combined 0-for-11.

Arizona wound up using five relievers after Deason was removed at the start of the seventh, and they allowed two runs (one earned) over three innings.

Johnson: "Practice has been great. Guys are being very deliberate with their work.
It did not translate tonight.... I feel like we missed some mistakes. We didn't battle with 2 strikes nearly as good as we have been."

— WildcatUniverse.com (@Scott_Terrell) April 7, 2018

The Wildcats drop to 17-11 overall and 2-5 in the Pac-12. They have the fewest number of wins in the conference. Arizona entered the day 81st in RPI, putting it in serious danger of missing the postseason.

Game two of the series is Saturday at 7 p.m. PT at Hi Corbett Field. It can be watched on the Pac-12 Networks.

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