Beavers defeat UALR 7-4

CORVALLIS - Oregon State entered the postseason in a slump.There's absolutely no other way to put it.

They'd lost six of seven. They hadn't scored in 14 consecutive innings. They hadn't led in 44 innings.

And for the first four and a half innings of their home regional opener against Arkansas Little-Rock Friday night, it looked as though anyone who thought the Beavers would magically break out of their slump just because it was the postseason were dead wrong.

Arkansas Little-Rock - a team that lost 11 of 12 at one point earlier this year - took advantage of the fact that OSU elected not to start second-team All American pitcher Sam Gaviglio (they opted to go with No. 3/No. 4 starter James Nygren), and jumped out to an early 4-0 lead.

"If you had told me two days ago that we'd have a 4-run lead as a No. 4 seed, that's something we'd all be comfortable with," UALR shortstop Greg Garcia said. "But baseball is a game of momentum, and we had a chance to keep it but it slipped through our fingers."

That it did.

Because in the fifth inning - perhaps finally, for the first time in several weeks, the Beavers felt a sense of urgency - something clicked.

"We just needed to lossesn up and start being the hunters and not the hunted," Beaver third baseman Carter Bell said. "That's when our mentality really changed."

Down 4-0, Brian Stamps doubled to start the Beavers' half of the fifth. Then Ryan Barnes - remember that name - tripled down the right field line to plate the Beavers first run in nearly two and a half games. Barnes then scored on a Jared Norris groundout to cut the deficit to two.

In the sixth, OSU picked up where it left off.

Danny Hayes - pinch-hitting for starter Max Gordon, a player no one expected to start in the first place - drilled a pitch off the scoreboard in right field for a solo roundtripper. Bell then came a few feet away from making it back-to-back, as he sent a shot off the top of the left field fence for a double. Bell later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at four. Stamps, who reached by way of a walk, scored later that inning on a Barnes double to give the Beavers their first lead in nearly two weeks.

Garrett Nash added a two-run home run in the eighth inning to give the Beavers some breathing room, and the bullpen tandem of Matt Boyd and Tony Bryant was sensational as usual, retiring all nine of the batters they faced to nail down the win.

Game notes:

Why Nygren got the start: Casey maintained after the game that the only reason Nygren got the start was because Gaviglio needed another day of rest. He said he hadn't slept since Tuesday because he'd been awake thinking about the pitching situation, and said he had 100% commited to starting Gaviglio had he been ready. He said he takes no games for granted, and would never consider "saving" someone just because he felt like he didn't need him.

How it got to 4-0: With two outs in the top of the fifth and a runner on second, Garcia hit what looked like a routine pop fly to OSU right fielder Jared Norris. The senior misread the ball terribly, taking a few steps in only to realize that it was headed for the warning track. It was too late, and the ball went over his head for a double. The next Trojan hitter delivered a single up the middle to make it 4-0. The misread fly ball was brought up several times in the postgame press conference - not by the media, but by Casey and the players. They noticeably weren't hesitant to call out Norris.

More on Barnes: The sophomore from West Linn - who wasn't even expected to be in the outfield rotation at the start of the year - was 3-for-5 and was a homerun short of the cycle. He also had the defensive play of the game - perhaps the non-Brian-Stamps defensive play of the year - when he caught a ball on the warning track in the bottom of the eighth. It was an over-the-shoulder, diving effort that sent Goss into a frenzy. When asked about the play, Barnes said "coach actually moved me in a couple of feet two pitches earlier, so he should get the credit," insinuating that it would have been a routine play had he stayed where he was. Everyone laughed.

Casey with a Mohawk? A good amount of the Oregon State players sported Mohawks Friday, a sign of team unity. For the 100th time this week, Casey was asked if he was going to get a Mohawk. He said he didn't plan on it, noting he'd have nowhere to sleep if he showed up at home looking like one of his players. One of the players joked, "he wouldn't be able to grow his hair back if he did." Casey also drew some laughs when he said "I wish they would have gotten those Mohawks last week...