CORVALLIS, Ore. — Dylan Davis’ two-run double in the bottom of the ninth helped lift No. 3 national seed Oregon State to a 5-4 victory against fourth-seeded UTSA in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Corvallis Regional on Friday night before 3,222 fans at Goss Stadium.
The Roadrunners (35-24) held a 4-3 lead entering the final frame, but a leadoff walk to Tyler Smith helped jump start the Beavers’ (46-10) rally. Andy Peterson advanced Smith to second with a sacrifice bunt and, after Michael Conforto was hit by a pitch, Davis lined the first pitch he saw from UTSA reliever Matt Sims into the gap in right center to plate the tying and winning runs.
The Roadrunners took their third lead of the night in the eighth when Jesse Baker blooped a single to left field and later scored when Oregon State third baseman Kavin Keyes booted a ground ball off the bat of Horacio Correa III.
Davis finished the evening 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs and a pair of runs scored for the Beavers, while Ryan Barnes collected two hits.
RJ Perucki went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead UTSA, which saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end.
“That was a tough way to lose," first-year head coach Jason Marshall said. "Obviously, it’s tough when you play that hard for 25 outs and are just a couple away from beating a very great opponent. The big thing coming into today for this ball club was that we haven’t been in this situation before. None of these players have been to a regional, so it meant a lot to have poise, handle the situation and atmosphere while playing a good opponent. All of those things eliminate those distractions and focus in on playing the game. I thought our guys did a really good job at that.”
Max Engelbrekt (5-1) picked up the win for Oregon State after tossing 1.2 scoreless innings.
Meanwhile, Sims (6-3) allowed a pair of runs on two hits, walked four, hit a batter and struck out two.
After the Beavers took a 3-2 lead in the sixth, UTSA knotted the score an inning later when Good drew a two-out walk and moved to second after Daniel Rockett was hit by a Matt Boyd pitch. After a pitching change, Perucki drilled an 0-2 pitch into right field to score Good from second.
The Roadrunners struck first with a run in the opening frame.
Good drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on a Perucki base hit up the middle. Ramirez then lined a 2-2 curve ball from Boyd into center field to plate Good.
The Beavers tied things up in the bottom of the fourth.
Davis led off the stanza with a single to center and moved to third on a hit-and-run base hit through the right side of the infield by Barnes. A walk to Danny Hayes loaded the bases with no outs, but starter Nolan Trabanino was able to induce a ground ball double play off the bat of Kavin Keyes that plated Davis with the tying run. The freshman southpaw then got out of the inning with a strikeout of Jake Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, Boyd settled down after the UTSA run in the first panel and retired 14 consecutive batters before Good reached on a leadoff single through the right side to start the sixth. A pair of walks to Perucki and Baker loaded the bases with two outs. Warren then legged out an infield single, to push Good home and give the Roadrunners a 2-1 lead.
Oregon State answered with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the frame.
Davis reached on an error to lead off the inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Keyes. With a runner on first, three consecutive walks led to another run and a 3-2 advantage for the Beavers.
Trabanino worked five-plus innings for the Birds and allowed three runs (one earned) on seven hits. He walked one and fanned one.
The Roadrunners will face regional No. 2 seed Texas A&M (32-28) at 2 p.m. (CT) on Saturday in an elimination game. Freshman right-hander Brock Hartson (9-4) will start on the mound for UTSA. The Aggies, who dropped their tournament opener to UC Santa Barbara by a score of 6-4, have not announced their starter.