CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State scored three runs in the sixth inning to overcome an early deficit and defeat Portland 6-2 Tuesday evening at Goss Stadium. The Beavers, ranked No. 4 in the latest Baseball America Top 25 Poll, improve to 3-0 against the Pilots this season despite trailing in the middle innings of each contest.
Mike Lissman was 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI for the Beavers (33-8, 11-4 Pacific-10), while Andrew Wrisley belted his first career homer and Matthew Peters and Justin Ehlers tallied two hits apiece for the Pilots (14-29, 5-16 WCC).
OSU stranded 12 runners while the Pilots left eight on base. The Beavers gained a 9-8 edge in hits and neither team committed an error.
Wrisley put the Pilots on the board first with a solo shot to left field in the third. The sophomore second baseman has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and is batting .310.
OSU tied it in the fourth as Jacoby Ellsbury plated Lissman with a bases loaded groundout to first base. The Pilots loaded the bases in the fifth and took a 2-1 lead on a wild pitch, but the Beavers responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame on a two-out rally which resulted in a bases loaded walk and a hit by pitch accounting for both scores.
OSU then provided reliever Nate Fogle some breathing room with a three-spot in the sixth. Three walks by Pilot pitchers loaded the bases for the third straight inning. Lissman came through with an RBI-single, Ledesma hit a sacrifice fly to left and then Gillespie scored on a balk to account for three runs on just one hit in the inning.
Fogle shut the door, allowing just two hits in 4.2 innings of relief. He struck out six and walked one, improving his record to 4-2 on the season. Pilot freshman southpaw Chris Seigfried (2-3) took the loss by allowing two runs on three hits and two walks in 0.2 innings.
Portland used six pitchers, including weekend starters Given Kutz and Josh Roberts. Kutz started the game and did not allow a run in two innings. Roberts also tossed two scoreless innings, allowing just one batter to reach base.
Portland will return to the diamond on Friday, May 6 to host Pepperdine for a three-game WCC series at Joe Etzel Field beginning at 3 p.m. The series will conclude with 1 p.m. starts on both Saturday and Sunday. Kutz will start on Friday, while freshman Ari Ronick will take the mound on Saturday and Roberts gets the ball in the series finale.
