SURPRISE, ARIZ. – Trent Caraway and Brady Kasper each homered and Oregon State held off a late Minnesota rally for a 6-4 win over the Golden Gophers in front of 3,880 fans Saturday afternoon at Surprise Stadium.
Minnesota put the first two batters on base in the ninth, and loaded the bases on a hit by pitch with one down versus OSU reliever Kyle Scott. The Gophersscored their fourth and final run of the game on a sacrifice fly before Scott, making his Oregon State debut, induced Jake Perry into a game-ending flyout to left.
The win pushed Oregon State to 2-0 on the year while Minnesota dropped to 1-1.
Caraway hit his second home run of the season on a solo shot to left on the first pitch he saw in the third. He added to his tally with a fourth-inning double, already his fourth hit of the young season.
Mason Guerra made it 2-0 in favor of the Beavers’ on a run-scoring single in the third.
Two batters after Guerra’s first RBI of the season, Kasper stepped to the plate and drilled a 1-0 pitch deep over the fence in center. It was the senior’s first long ball of the season and pushed the Beavers to a 5-0 lead.
Guerra drove in his second run of the game on another single in the fourth. That run proved to be key as Minnesota scored twice in the sixth and once more in the eighth to cut the Beavers’ lead in half.
Chase Reynolds, also making his Oregon State debut, picked up the win after throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out three. Scott, meanwhile, scattered one hit and one run in 1 2/3 innings while striking out two. He earned the save.
Travis Bazzana paced the OSU offense with three hits, followed closely by Caraway’s two.
Next Up
The Beavers continue their trip to Surprise with an 11 a.m. PT (noon in Arizona) first pitch versus CSU Bakersfield. Catch the game live via the Beaver Sports Network, Varsity Network app and Flo Baseball.
Oregon State Notes
– Minnesota left 17 runners on base. OSU left eight.
– OSU’s staff limited the Golden Gophers to a 1-for-10 day with two outs.
– Gavin Turley’s hit streak was snapped at 10 games.
– The Beavers have hit nine home runs over two games this season. The 2023 Beavers hit their ninth home run in the seventh game of the year.
– Oregon State wore its Natural uniforms for the first time this season.
– The Beavers improved to 88-31 when scoring first under Mitch Canham.
– Only two of the four runs scored by Minnesota were earned. Oregon State’s team ERA is 2.00 through 18 innings this season.
– The Beavers have 26 hits over 18 innings to start the season.
– Oregon State has 15 extra-base hits over the first two games. Opponents have five. The Beavers have a .855 team slugging percentage, posting 59 total bases in 69 official at bats.
– Travis Bazzana stole two bases Saturday giving him 52 for his career. That’s now two shy of Jeff Doyle (1975-77) for third at Oregon State.
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OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
