Beavers rally to beat Fullerton in CWS
OMAHA, NEB. » Adley Rutschman hit the tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, Jake Mulholland pitched 4 1/3 innings of no-hit relief and Oregon State rallied to beat Cal State Fullerton 6-5 in the College World Series opener on Saturday.
The Beavers (55-4) extended their winning streak to 22 games after falling behind by four runs as national wins leader Jake Thompson scuffled.
Mulholland (7-1) settled things down for the Beavers, retiring 12 of the 13 batters after taking over for Thompson, who came into the game with 14 wins but lasted 3 2/3 innings in his shortest outing of the season.
The Beavers tied it with four runs in the sixth inning, and Rutschman put them ahead with his single up the middle off Blake Workman (6-3). Drew Rasmussen pitched the ninth for his second save.
Timmy Richards’ threerun homer in the first and Chris Hudgins’ two-run single in the fourth gave the Titans (39-23) a 5-1 lead, the largest deficit the Beavers have faced since losing 7-1 to UCLA on April 22.
Fullerton starter Connor Seabold worked a strong five innings, but his pitch count ballooned to 97 and he was relieved by Colton Eastman to start the bottom of the sixth.
Eastman, who was spectacular in a seven-inning start in the super regional clinching win over Long Beach State last Sunday, couldn’t find the strike zone. The Beavers were content to wait him out. He got only two batters out, walked four and threw 40 pitches, including 13 to KJ Harrison during an at-bat that ended with a basesloaded walk.
Workman came on and Trevor Larnach singled up the middle for two runs, and Jack Anderson followed with another base hit to center to tie it 5-all.
Thompson struggled from the start. He walked leadoff batter Scott Hurst and hit Dillon Persinger with a pitch before Richards drilled a fastball into the left-center
seats. Thompson left after Hudgins’ two-run single in the fourth.
TITAN STRUGGLE » The Titans lost their eighth straight CWS game over five appearances. They went 0-2 in 2007, 2009 and 2015.
TWO-OUT SUCCESS » The Beavers left 13 runners on base, compared with one for Fullerton, but scored four of their six runs with two outs. ROBBED AT ALL » Hurst, the Fullerton center fielder, made the defensive play of the game in the top of the eighth when he went to the wall to catch Harrison’s fly and rob him of extra bases. Larnach, the next batter, singled to start the Beavers’ winning rally.
UP NEXT » Oregon State plays Monday night against the winner of the Florida State-LSU game Saturday night. Fullerton plays the loser of that game Monday afternoon.