Box Score CORVALLIS, Ore. – The ACU Wildcats had the nation's top-ranked team on the ropes Friday night before their biggest nemesis reared its head at the most inopportune time, helping Oregon State avoid the biggest upset in college baseball this season.
ACU jumped to a 4-0 lead after four innings against the Beavers and had a 4-3 lead with two outs and one man on base in the bottom of the ninth at Goss Stadium before three straight walks by closer
Brandon Lambright forced in the game-tying run, sending the game to extra innings where the Beavers eventually walked off with a 5-4 win in the bottom of the 11th inning.
The extra-inning escape by the Beavers helped push them to 47-4 on the season and avoid a loss to an ACU team that is now 13-41 in 2017. An ACU win would have reverberated around the country and ranked as, arguably, the biggest upset in college baseball this season.
But once again the walks given up by ACU pitchers came back to haunt the Wildcats as they lost for just the second time this season when leading after eight innings.
ACU had leads of 2-0, 4-0 and 4-3 in the ballgame, thanks to an offense that blistered starting pitcher Jake Thompson for 10 hits and four runs in five innings and a terrific starting effort from junior right-hander
Drew Hanson. However, Hanson was forced to leave the game with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when he was hit in the back by a line drive off the bat of Tyler Malone, putting a runner on base with ACU leading 4-0.
Keaton Brewer came on and gave up a two-out single to Adley Rutschman and then a two-out, three-run home run to Trevor Larch to cut ACU's lead to 4-3. In the bottom of the seventh, the Beavers had two runners on base and two outs when Lambright was summoned from the bullpen. He threw one pitch to Michael Gretler and forced him to ground out sharply to
Russell Crippen at second base to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Lambright gave up a leadoff walk to Malone before he struck out each of the next three men he faced, including catching K.J. Harrison looking to end the inning.
Then came the fateful bottom of the ninth.
Entering the inning, ACU pitchers had allowed 310 walks on the season, perhaps the biggest issue in ACU's season. Lambright, however, struck out Christian Donahue to start the inning, getting the OSU left fielder to strike out swinging on a 3-2 pitch.
But he walked pinch-hitter Steven Kwan before he got OSU's leading hitter Nick Madrigal to strike out swinging for the second out of the inning, leaving ACU one out away from perhaps the biggest regular-season win athletics program history.
But it wasn't to be.
Lambright went to three-ball counts on each of the next three hitters and walked all three, including a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Elliott Cary that drove in pinch-runner Andy Atwood to tie the game at 4-4.
ACU got a baserunner on base in both the 10th and 11th innings, but couldn't get either one home. OSU, however, got the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th when Atwood led off with a single, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Madrigal and scored the game-winner on a single to Jack Anderson. That sent the Wildcats back to the dugout on the heels of their toughest loss of the season and sent the Beavers rushing onto the field to celebrate the walk-off win.
The Wildcats struck first with two runs in the third off Thompson, who entered the game as the nation's leader in wins (12-0) and third in ERA (1.01). Shortstop
Mark Pearson opened the scoring with an RBI single and Crippen drove in the second run with an RBI groundout. In the fourth, ACU loaded the bases with two outs before
Derek Scott drove in a pair of runs with a single to left field.
Thompson left the game after the fifth inning after giving up a season-high in hits and runs, but the Wildcats couldn't muster any more runs against Jordan Britton or Brandon Eisert, who got the win to improve to 4-0 on the season.
