Jacob Melton's ninth-inning sacrifice fly proved to be the game winner as No. 3 Oregon State held off a late Nevada rally for a 9-8 win Wednesday afternoon at Greater Nevada Field.
Wade Meckler sent a one-out double to the gap in left, and moved to third on a wild pitch. Melton then drove a pitch from Nevada reliever Nathan Maas to left, enabling Meckler to score from third.
Jabin Trosky tallied a career-best three hits to pace the OSU (19-5 overall) attack, which finished with 13 hits. Greg Fuchs, meanwhile, went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs in the third to even the score at third.
OSU, down 4-3 after four, scored four in the fifth to take an 7-4 lead. The Beavers scored one more in the sixth before the Wolf Pack (11-12) scored four in the eighth to tie the game at eight.
Ryan Brown closed his second consecutive game with a scoreless ninth. Mitchell Verburg picked up the win to improve to 2-2 this year.
Maas took the loss and is 0-1.
Neither starter figured in the decision. Jaren Hunter started for the Beavers and equaled a career-long with five innings of work, scattering nine hits and four runs with four strikeouts. His counterpart, Alejandro Murillo, allowed eight hits and three runs in 2 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Next Up
Oregon State opens a three-game series versus Stanford Friday night at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. PT. Tickets for the series can be purchased by visiting osubeavers.com/baseballtickets or calling 1-800-GOBEAVS.
Oregon State Notes
- Kyle Dernedde made his first career start at third base.
- Travis Bazzana extended his hit streak to 12 games with a double in the third inning.
- Tanner Smith pushed his hit streak to eight games with a single in the second.
- Jaren Hunter's five innings of work equaled his career long set last week against Seattle.
- Hunter has now struck out 13 to just two walks in 18 2/3 innings this season. He has 24 career strikeouts to three walks in 31 innings.
- Oregon State drew 15 walks during the two games. The Beavers struck out 15 times.
- The game marked the sixth consecutive one-run final between the teams.
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