Oregon Baseball: Aaron Payne’s Ninth Inning Triple Leads Ducks Over Oregon State 6-3

It was a good test for the #16 Ducks facing the #6 Oregon State Beavers in the First Baseball Civil War of the year. The game was considered a non conference game. Oregon and Oregon State face off in conference next month at PK Park.

The Press Release from the U of O:

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Aaron Payne had a two-RBI triple in the top of the ninth inning to break a 3-3 tie and lead No. 16 Oregon to a 6-3 win over No. 6 Oregon State in a non-conference game on Tuesday at Goss Stadium.

Photo: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

Payne pulled a 1-2 pitch into the right field corner scoring J.J. Altobelli from second and Brett Thomas from first to give the Ducks a 5-3 lead. Ryon Healy added a sacrifice fly to score Payne to give Oregon (24-8) a three-run lead.

Jimmie Sherfy got Oregon State (25-6) in order in the ninth striking out the first two batters he faced before ending the game on a fly ball to right field. Sherfy picked up his ninth save of the season.

Freshman Garrett Cleavinger picked up his first career-win pitching a scoreless eighth inning. Four Ducks’ relievers combined to hold OSU scoreless over the final five innings of the game. Darrell Hunter entered the game with the score tied to begin the fifth and threw two scoreless innings. Christian Jones struck out two Beavers in scoreless seventh inning.

Payne went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two walks to lead the Ducks’ offense. Tyler Baumgartner was 2-for-4 with a RBI.

Oregon State took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Oregon starter Jordan Spencer walked Jake Rodriguez with the bases loaded.

Oregon answered with two runs in the second without the benefit of a hit. The Ducks took advantage of two hit by pitches and four wild pitches by starter Taylor Starr to get the runs. Connor Hofmann picked up a RBI to score the first run a fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt scoring Scott Heineman. Josh Graham scored the second run on a wild pitch. Both Heineman and Graham reached base by being hit by pitches.

Baumgartner pushed the lead to 3-1 in the third with a RBI single over the shortstop’s head to score Mitchell Tolman from second.

The Beavers tied it with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Jared Casper drove in the first run with a RBI single to centerfield and advanced to second on an error by Hofmann. Casper scored the tying run on a Ryan Barnes sacrifice bunt.

Oregon returns to Pac-12 Conference play this weekend when they play a three-game series at Cal starting at 6 p.m. on Friday.

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