May 8, 2005

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Oregon State scored 13 unanswered runs from the fourth inning on as the No. 4 Beavers completed a Pac-10 series sweep over UCLA with a 16-3 victory on Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins matched Oregon State's offensive output for the first three innings but Beaver starter Jonah Nickerson and the OSU bullpen held UCLA scoreless for the game's final six innings.

Nickerson (8-0) earned the win, allowing all three runs on eight hits over six innings of work. Three Beaver relievers combined to throw a nearly perfect final three innings. UCLA's Brant Rustich (2-4) took the loss, allowing eight runs on ten hits over four innings pitched.

Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was 4-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI and left fielder Tyler Graham, shortstop Darwin Barney and right fielder Mike Lissman each had three hits for the visiting Beavers (36-8, 14-4 Pac-10). Catcher Mitch Canham hit his fifth home run of the season for OSU in the fifth.

Designated hitter Hector Ambriz and third baseman Brett McMillan both contributed two hits apiece for the Bruins. Ambriz finished the weekend 4-for-10 (.400) while McMillan went 4-for-11 (.364) over the three-game series. Right fielder Chris Jensen extended his season-high hitting streak to 15-games with a single in the Bruin fifth.

Oregon State jumped ahead with two quick runs in the first inning as the first two batters of the game reached base and scored against Rustich. An RBI groundout by Cole Gillespie and an RBI single by Barney brought around Ellsbury and Graham who had reached on a leadoff single and a walk.

But UCLA charged back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning as consecutive two-out RBI singles from McMillan and Sean Carpenter brought around Jensen and Ambriz.

OSU regained the lead in the top of the second when Ellsbury's two-out double brought scored Lissman from second. Again, though, the Bruins tied it up in the bottom half of the inning as left fielder Will Penniall's two-out single drove home shortstop Eric Taylor. Taylor was beaned with one out and then put himself in scoring position with his eighth stolen base of the year.

It was all Oregon State after that as the Beavers tacked on three in the fourth, two in the fifth, five in the seventh, one in the eighth and two in the ninth.