SURPRISE, Arizona – Joe Casey, Ryan Ober and Cesar Valero Sanchez everyone hit home runs and Cooper Hjerpe shone in his early career by sending Oregon State to a 14-1 victory over New Mexico on Saturday afternoon at the Surprise Stadium.
Casey and Ober battled in a fifth entry from six races, punctuated by the grand slam of the latter that led OSU to an 11-0 lead. Valero Sanchez then finished the OSU scoring with a three-run shot in the seventh inning.
Hjerpe controlled New Mexico (0-2 overall) for 5 1/3 innings, eliminating nine, while limiting the Wolves to three strokes and a hike. It was his seventh appearance in the Beavers’ career and he won his second career victory.
OSU (1-1) scored five in the third to take the lead of the season. The Beavers chose five consecutive times, with Casey, Troy Claunch and Andy Armstrong all driving in at least one race to a 4-0 lead before Jacob Melton’s the sacrificial fly made 5-0.
This led to Casey’s two-race explosion to start the scoring in the fifth, followed by Ober’s second home run of the season a few hitters later.
Justin Armbruester started in New Mexico and suffered defeat after allowing seven strokes and five runs in three starts.
Andy Armstrong had three hits for the Beavers, while Claunch, Casey, Kyler McMahan and Jake Dukart everyone had two to help speed up the 16-hit day.
Next
Oregon State faces Gonzaga on Sunday at Surprise Stadium. The first pitch is scheduled for 11am PT (12pm in Arizona). The beavers are configured to start the right-handed launcher Jake Pfennigs against Gonzaga southpaw Bradley Mullans.
Follow the game
Follow Sunday’s game via TuneIn radio on the Beaver Sports Network and also on Flo Sports. Both links can be found by visiting the programming page at osubeavers.com.
The Big Fly
Oregon State’s three home run hits were the biggest of the Beavers since Beau Philip, Adley Rutschman and Zack Zalesky everything sank in the 5-2 victory over USC on May 24, 2019.
Team for two
Oregon State sent 12 pitchers to the mound in the first two games of the season. Those 12 combined to eliminate 21 out of 18 entries, limiting the state of Kansas and New Mexico to seven hits and nine hits. The group allowed four races, including three wins for an average race win of 1.50.
McMahan’s Hit Streak
Kyler McMahan recorded two hits in Saturday’s win to extend his streak to nine games. He has 17 of 33 (0.515) during the straight.
More in Hjerpe
Cooper Hjerpe reached the life of 9 1/3 innings at Surprise Stadium, and the southpaw has not yet allowed a run. He combined 13 strokes and two hikes while limiting Gonzaga (2020) and New Mexico to three combined strokes.
Notable Notes
– Oregon State was a 10-for-22 combined with runners at the base in victory.
– Oregon State has also advanced runners 17 times in 26 attempts.
– The state of Oregon placed five starting hitters at the base in eight innings.
– Ryan Ober has two successes this season; both were home runs. He leads OSU with six RBI.
– Kyle Dernedde picked up his first career hit with a single on Saturday.
– Bryant Salgado (RHP), Jaren Hunter (RHP), Kyle Froemke (INF) and Garrett Forrester (INF) made their Oregon State debut with the win.
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For more information about the Oregon State baseball team, follow the club’s official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeaverBaseball, Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateBaseball or Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverBaseball.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build ANDxcellent ONEauthentic Visionary sstudent-ONEthletes (Go BEAVS).