BASEBALL: Beavs takes regional opener

THE BIGGEST HIT in Oregon State's win over Belmont in the opening game of the Baton Rouge regional traveled about 90 feet. Ryan Barnes safety squeeze in the sixth inning proved to be the game-winner and sent the No. 16 Oregon State baseball team to a 2-1 victory in the opening game at Alex Box Stadium.

Joey Matthews doubled to open the sixth and moved to third when Tyler Smith grounded out to first. Michael Conforto was intentionally walked, leading to Barnes' push bunt. The baseball just stayed fair as it skidded down the line, eventually hitting the first base bag.

It was Barnes’ second hit of the game and sent the Beavers to their seventh consecutive NCAA Regional opening win.

The Beavers (39-18) managed just three hits off Belmont (39-23) starter Chase Brookshire. OSU left just four on base, drawing two walks off Brookshire and Belmont reliever Josh Davis.

Oregon State opened the game’s scoring in the second. Barnes doubled to right and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Gorton. Barnes scored on Kavin Keyes' sacrifice fly to right.

But Belmont evened the score in the fifth. Dylan Craig opened the inning with a triple down the right field line and scored when Zac Mitchell grounded out to second for the second out of the inning.

Jace Fry started for the Beavers and did not figure in the decision after allowing four hits and a run in five innings. He struck out four and walked three before being relieved by Tony Bryant in the sixth. Fry left in the middle of an at-bat with reported tightness in his forearm.

Bryant went on to throw 1 2/3 innings of relief. He allowed one hit and got the win to improve to 6-2 this season.

Matt Boyd picked up his third save of the season with a scoreless 2 1/3 innings of relief. The lefty allowed just one hit while striking out three during that stretch.

Chase Brookshire started for Belmont and worked a strong seven innings, allowing three hits and two runs. The lefty walked two and struck out three but took the hard luck loss to drop to 8-4 this season.

Alec Diamond let Belmont with two hits. Five of the Bruins’ six hits came with two hits but Belmont managed just one leadoff baserunner.

Oregon State will meet the winner of Friday's LSU-Louisiana-Monroe matchup on Saturday night at 5:07 p.m. PT.

The game will be shown live on Comcast SportsNet Northwest (channels 37 and 737).

Beaver Sports Radio Network affiliates carrying Saturday’s game include KICE 940-AM (Bend), KPOJ 620-AM (Portland), KEJO 1240-AM (Corvallis), KSKR 1490-AM (Roseburg), KORC 92.7 FM (Burns), KAKT 104.7 FM (Grants Pass), KLAD 960-AM (Klamath Falls), KBZY 1490-AM (Salem) and KKNX 840-AM (Eugene). Also, KKNX Radio 84 is expected to carry a live stream.

The audio will also be on the Internet through Beaver Nation Online (osubeavers.com) for a fee.