Beavers Close Out Regular Season With 9-1 Win

STANFORD, Calif. – Jake Pfennigs allowed one run in six innings and Troy Claunch went 3-for-6 with two runs batted in to pace Oregon State to a 9-1 win over No. 9 Stanford Saturday afternoon at Sunken Diamond.
 
The three-game series finale wrapped up the regular season for both teams with the Beavers improving to 34-22 overall and 16-14 in Pac-12 Conference play. Oregon State has now had a winning record in conference play for 10 consecutive seasons.
 
Stanford, meanwhile, dropped to 33-14 overall and 17-10 in Pac-12 play.
 
Pfennigs, making his 12th start of the year, struck out five, scattering five hits and a run in six innings of work. The righty kept Stanford to a 1-for-9 mark with runners on base and earned his fifth win of the season.
 
Matthew Gretler opened the game's scoring with a two-run double in the second, while Justin Boyd drove in solo runs in both the fourth and seventh innings. Gretler now has eight multiple-RBI efforts this year while Boyd has three.
 
Claunch paced the Beavers three hits, tying a career-high, as Oregon State tallied 13 as a team. His last hit, a single in the ninth, drove in the Beavers' ninth and final run of the game.
 
Boyd, Andy Armstrong and Kyle Dernedde all recorded two hits. Dernedde's two-hit effort marked the first multiple-hit effort of his career while Armstrong has a team-best 19 this season. Boyd, meanwhile, recorded his fourth.
 
Already up 2-0, the Beavers put two more on the board in the fourth before Stanford scored one in the bottom half of the inning. Boyd drove in the inning's first run with a two-out single, bringing in Wade Meckler from third. Two batters later, and after Claunch singled, the two OSU runners pulled off a double steal for the Beavers' fourth run of the game.
 
Claunch and Forrester both drove in runs during OSU's three-run sixth that saw the Beavers take a six-run lead.
 
Stanford's Alex Williams took the loss, dropping to 2-2 on the year. He allowed five hits and four runs in 3 2/3 innings.
 
Notables
- The win marked Oregon State's first in a regular season finale since defeating Abilene Christian, 4-2, in 2017.
- Troy Claunch extended his hit streak to 17 games with a single in the fourth. It's the longest hit streak by a Beaver since Cadyn Grenier posted a 27-gamer during the 2018 season.
- Claunch's fourth-inning steal marked the second of his career. It was the first of Justin Boyd's career.
- Jake Mulholland inherited a bases-loaded situation in the seventh and got out of the inning with no damage. He has now inherited 14 runners this season with just two scoring. Mulholland has also retired his first batter faced in 18 of 25 opportunities in 2021.
- Kyle Dernedde made his fourth start of the season at second base and first since March 14 versus Oregon.
- Boyd made his first start of the season in center. He ends the regular season having started at least once in all three spots of the outfield, in addition to four starts at first base. Boyd also made his first start at the No. 2 spot of the lineup.
 
Follow Us On Social
For more information on the Oregon State baseball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeaverBaseball, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateBaseball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverBaseball.

OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).