OREGON STATE
Jace Fry Pitches a No-Hitter & Then The Beavs Get Offensive
Oregon State Beaver fans were treated to an exemplary day of baseball at Goss Stadium on Saturday, March 8th. The fifth ranked Oregon State Beavers faced off against Northern Illinois in the weekend series.
Jace Fry, a dynamic junior lefty from Southridge High School in Beaverton, Oregon has more than fulfilled expectations for his junior season in just four starts. On June 1st, 2012, after a stunning freshmen year where he went 5-3 with a 2.45 ERA for the Beavers, Fry left his final start of the season with elbow pain.
Beaver fans were heartbroken to hear that the MRI revealed a 75% tear of the ulnar collateral ligament; also known as Tommy Johns. Fry was confident that he was going to be coming back for the 2013 season, but with a required 11-14 month recovery it didn’t seem likely. On May 5th, Fry made his debut against California. He continued throughout the season to make 6 appearances as a reliever, throwing 7+ innings and finishing with a 4.70 ERA.
Jace Fry made quick work of Northern Illinois in a game that lasted only 1 hour, 46 minutes; another record for Goss Stadium as it was the fastest game ever played. The no-hitter was the first since Josh Osich’s no-hitter at UCLA on April 30, 2011.
Oregon State only had one hit themselves and the Beavers won the game 2-0.
In the second game of the double header, Oregon State got offensive with powerful hitting and a crushing grand slam by 6’ senior Jerad Casper. The grand slam came on two-outs that capped off a five-run first inning. Junior superstar Michael Conforto singled twice, tripled, scored twice and had an RBI. Gabe Clark went 2-4 with a homer, double and three RBI’s and continues to maintain his .500 (12-24) average. Clark now has 10 RBI’s in 24 at-bats.
The Beavers winning streak is now at five in a row.
University of California Berkeley (9-5)
The California Golden Bears had an interesting weekend as they dropped two and won one at the Cal Baseball Classic at Evans Diamond this weekend.
Cal lost the first game to Tulane 10-5 after leading early 5-0. Cal freshman right-hander Daulton Jefferies (2-1) gave up seven earned runs, including a three run double to Garrett Deschamp and a two-run homer to Hunter Hope.
Game two of the Cal Baseball Classic for the Cal Golden Bears on Saturday found Cal and San Francisco in a pitchers duel. It was broken up by a home run hit to right field by San Francisco’s Bradley Zimmer off of Cal Freshman Alex Martinex in the sixth inning.
In a much-needed win, Cal defeated No. 24 Arkansa 4-3 in game one of a doubleheader on Sunday. The Golden Bears were led by senior pitchers Kyle Porter and Trevor Hildenberger and designated hitter Devon Rodriguez. Porter improved to 2-0 and Hildenberger earned his fourth save of the season. Rodriguez had a two-run double in the third inning.
Stanford (7-8)
Stanford baseball fans had an exciting weekend as the Cardinals played host to Kansas State (12-1). The Friday night game didn’t fail to excite as it took 400 pitches and 4:30 hours to complete. The game went into extra innings after the Cardinal’s came from behind to tie the game in the 8th inning at 2-2. The Kansas Jayhawks scored two runs in the 13th inning, clinching the first win.
Not willing to go away easily, Stanford powered back on Saturday to get the 5-4 win thanks to a strong offensive first 3 innings. The Cardinals made their run in the 5th and 6th innings due to Cardinal miscues. Both teams tallied three errors each in the game.
With the series win at stake, the Cardinals relied on the arm of freshman Cal Quantrill who did not disappoint. With a dominant 126-pitch effort he shutout Kansas and with the 1-0 win Stanford won its first series of the season.
Stanford will not be playing games for the next 12 days due to a break for the players final exams.
University of Southern California (8-6)
The USC Trojan baseball team had a rough weekend as they played a trifecta of teams at home in this weekend’s series. The Trojans lost game one on Friday to Houston, who held USC to just one run on five hits in a 6-1 loss.
Despite holding a lead through the first five innings, the Trojans fell 10-4 to Pepperdine. The Trojans pitching started to slide in the sixth inning as Pepperdine put up five runs on six hits.
The Trojans lost to UCLA on Sunday, 6-5. Further information wasn’t available.
UCLA #13 (8-7)
Against a trifecta of teams this weekend, UCLA had a late rally on Friday in a lost to Pepperdine 8-7, at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins faced the opposite on Saturday when they lost an early lead over Houston with three runs in the bottom of the first. Houston took the lead in the top of the seventh and despite UCLA’s attempt to get something going in the bottom half of the eighth, the Bruins lost 4-3.
The Bruins got a win on Sunday over conference rival USC, 6-5. In a wild back-and-forth conference Junior David Berg picked up the win with 2.2 innings in relief.
University of Washington (10-4-1)
In four game weekend, University of Washington kept their hot streak alive as they went 4-0. The Huskies crushed Santa Clara and San Jose state 6-4, and 7-0 respectively.
In the 7-0 win over San Jose, Robert Pehl hit for the cycle as he batted a season-high 16 hits. Pitchers Tyler Davis and Will Ballowe combined for the shut out. The homer was in the first, doubled in the third, singled in the fifth and tripled in the ninth to record the first cycle by a UW played since Matt Stevens did it on February 18th, 2006. It was the second cycle by a UW hitter in the last 19 years.
The Huskies beat Pacific (California) 4-1 for their sixth straight victory. Alex Schmidt had his third home run of the year and three Washington relievers combined to throw 4 and 1/3 scoreless innings.
In the final game of the Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament, UW starter Jeff Brigham was efficient in working his way through five scoreless innings, earned the win over Santa Clara 4-0. The Huskies matched a season-high with nine runs and had their second-highest hit total of the year with 14.
Washington State University (4-8)
The Cougars won a weekend series against Texas State at home.
Friday night the Cougars jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings. Jason Monda, the Cougar starter, carried a shutout into the sixth when Texas State rallied to tie the score.
Saturday’s double header was split with WSU winning the first game 4-3 and the Bobcats winning the second game 5-3.
University of Oregon #14 (13-4)
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, the Ducks beat Seattle in a double-header 10-2 and 4-3.
The University of Oregon had a home stand series against Ohio State. The Ducks won outstandingly 8-2, 5-0 and 20-4.
University of Arizona (8-7)
The University of Arizona competed against UC Santa Barbara and Mississippi State in the Hi Corbett Classic this weekend. The Wildcats got offensive in a 12-3 win over Mississippi State. They continued the hitting streak with a 10-5 win over UC Santa Barbara.
Arizona State University
The Sun Devils lost their weekend series to Tennessee. Friday’s game was the only game they won, 3-1. They lost the next two 6-5 and 6-4 respectively.
