June 19, 2007

Irvine outlasts Fullerton in CWS marathon
Anteaters win longest CWS game in bottom of 13th

By: MOISEKAPENDA BOWER

OMAHA, NEB. — With every impressive win, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe defending national champion Oregon State squeaked into the NCAA tournament.

On Monday night at Rosenblatt Stadium, the Beavers throttled Pac-10 rival and conference champion Arizona State 12-6 to move to 2-0 at the College World Series.

The fifth-seeded Sun Devils (49-14) swept a three-game road series from Oregon State (46-18) in Corvallis late last month.

But the Beavers, who barely earned a postseason invitation, have been replaced by a steely squad seemingly intent upon becoming the first program to repeat as champions since LSU won back-to-back CWS titles in 1996-97.

"We're not the same club we were when they faced us last time," said Beavers shortstop Darwin Barney, who scored two runs. "We really feel like we're a different ballclub."

Beavers righthander Mike Stutes (11-4) held the Sun Devils to a pair of singles through six innings.

He tired in the seventh, but Oregon State held an 11-run lead by the point.

Pitching and defense carried the Beavers to Omaha, but their offense caught fire against Arizona State southpaws Brian Flores and Josh Satow. Flores (11-2) lasted only one inning, surrendering two runs on four hits before giving way to Satow, who was tagged for six runs in three innings, including homers by Mike Lissman and Jordan Lennerton.

Lissman cranked a three-run shot to left to cap a four-run, two-out rally in the second, and Lennerton took Satow out to left-center with one out in the third.

The Beavers added solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings before scoring thrice in the sixth on Lonnie Lechelt's RBI triple, an error by Arizona State third baseman Raoul Torrez, and a run-scoring single from Joey Wong.

Arizona State, the presumptive favorite from bracket 2, posted four runs in the seventh to force Oregon State coach Pat Casey to summon reliever Joe Paterson, who notched six strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings. The Sun Devils will face UC Irvine (46-16-1) in an elimination game tonight, and need three wins, including two over the Beavers, in three days to clinch a championship series berth.

"I thought we played really poorly," Sun Devils coach Pat Murphy said.

In other action

• UC Irvine 5, Cal State Fullerton 4 — Bryan Petersen ended the longest game in CWS history with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the 13th inning, giving UC Irvine a victory over Cal State Fullerton in an elimination game.
The five-hour, 40-minute game beat the old CWS mark — set in 1981 by Oklahoma State and Arizona State — by 40 minutes.