No. 6 baseball still atop Pac-10 after series win
Besides one forgettable game, the No. 6 Arizona baseball team keeps finding a way to win.
In a weekend in which they were outscored by 13 runs, the Wildcats (26-11, 10-2 Pacific 10 Conference) still distanced themselves from the rest of the conference pack by taking two out of three games from second-place Oregon State (27-7, 6-3) at Sancet Stadium.
Arizona squeaked by the No. 11 Beavers 7-5 Friday and 7-6 yesterday but got blown out 17-1 Saturday evening.
Trailing 6-5 in the ninth inning yesterday, junior left fielder Trevor Crowe got things going by getting hit on the first pitch.
After a balk and junior third baseman Brad Boyer's single put runners on first and third, senior right fielder Jeff Van Houten reached on a fielder's choice to tie the score at 6 and put Boyer at second.
The Beavers intentionally walked junior first baseman Jordan Brown and unintentionally walked catcher Nick Hundley to load the bases before junior center fielder Chris Frey grounded out to shortstop Darwin Barney, who threw home for the force play.
On the first pitch with two outs from Kevin Gunderson (2-2), sophomore shortstop Jason Donald sent the crowd home happy by lining a fastball past Barney for the winning score.
"I was ready to go, fastball first pitch," Donald said. "A lot of guys wait around. If I get it, I get it. I'm going to hit it, and if I don't, there's always another pitch."
Sophomore closer Mark Melancon allowed four runs, two earned, in a four-run seventh that gave Oregon State the lead.
Melancon (3-2) settled down, pitching 3 2/3 scoreless innings for the win.
Freshman David Coulon turned in another strong start, allowing two runs in 5 1/3 innings before giving way to Melancon.
Everything went wrong for Arizona in Saturday's blowout loss.
This total doubled the largest margin of victory for a Wildcat opponent all season after the team lost 16-8 to Washington March 26, its only other conference loss.
The loss snapped Arizona's seven-game winning streak.
"(It) was a nightmare in every way," head coach Andy Lopez said. "I'm almost sure four or five of us put our belts on wrong before the game last night. Everything that could go wrong went wrong."
The Beavers scored 16 unanswered runs after Crowe continued his hot hitting with a solo home run to dead center to tie the game at 1 in the first inning.
After throwing consecutive complete games, junior Kevin Guyette (6-3) could not make it out of the fourth. He allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings while striking out six.
The bullpen provided no relief as sophomore Brad Mills, junior Sean Jarrett and freshmen Matt Baugh and Mike Koons combined to give up 13 runs over the final 5 2/3 innings.
Anton Maxwell (6-0) held Arizona down, allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings for the win.
"I think as a competitor you don't like to be beat that bad, but it's good for us as a team because we need that," Donald said. "We haven't been in games like that."
Crowe did everything but trim the grass in Arizona's 7-5 win Friday.
He finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs, two stolen bases, including one of home plate, and a run scored.
"I hope that I do the things that I'm supposed to do, and I think coming through in big situations is something I'm supposed to do here," he said.
With the game scoreless and the bases loaded with two outs in the second, Crowe smashed a bases-clearing triple to put the Wildcats on top.
"Like I told the guys that were on the base, that's your triple right there," he said. "That's your three runs because if you don't keep that inning alive we don't get any of those."
With Beavers pitcher Dallas Buck not paying any attention to him at third, Crowe slowly inched his way down the baseline before looking into the dugout for a sign.
"I looked over at Lopez, and he gave me the green, so I kind of smiled for a little bit and said, 'Here we go,'" Crowe said. "It was pretty close. I thought I was going to fall at the end there."
The steal of home marked the first time an Arizona player had accomplished the feat since Pat Reilly against Portland March 12, 2003.
The four second-inning runs were more earned runs than Buck (7-1) had given up in a game all season, after entering with a conference-leading 1.19 ERA and Baseball America's midseason pitcher of the year honors.
Junior John Meloan (7-0) kept the Wildcats in front all game, allowing two earned runs in seven innings while striking out 11 for the win. Arizona pitchers combined to strike out 15 Beavers.
Oregon State battled back to get within 5-3 in the sixth, but Brown hit his team-leading 10th home run to put Arizona up by three in the seventh.
Freshman Eric Berger and Melancon allowed a run each in the eighth before Melancon pitched a scoreless ninth to record his sixth save of the year.