CWS: How 'Bout Them Champs?

By Doug Kroll - June 16, 2007

Don't count them out yet. Oregon State used a great pitching performance from starter Jorge Reyes, who went six innings giving up just one run and three hits, en route to a 3-2 win over Cal State Fullerton.

Oregon State got on the board first, and led this thing the whole way, with DH Mike Lissman rocketing a homerun to leftfield off Wes Roemer to make it 1-0, it was his tenth homer of the year.

The Beavers added a run in the secondas rightfielder Scott Santschi (making just his 22nd start of the year, roped an RBI single to make it 2-0. Then in the third, Fullerton's Scott Mahin got the Titans on the board with his tenth homerun of the year to cut the lead in half.

We went through the middle innings unscathed, until the top of the seventh when Santschi struck again. This time with a solo homerun, his first of the season to pad the lead and make it 3-1. The bottom of the 8th is an inning that coach Horton is going to want back. His Titans had 1st and 3rd with nobody out when Josh Fellhauer laid down a squeeze bunt to try and plate Joe Scott, but Scott stopped and was caught in between third and home. The rundown allowed Fellhauer to go to 2nd, and Hardman to third. A supplement fly ball to left by Mahin cut the lead to 3-2, but that's all they would get.

That's an inning where OSU handed them some runs, after an infield single that was a borderline error at third, but they just couldn't come through.

Things did get hairy in the ninth, as Wallach popped up to left with two outs, and LF John Wallace and SS Darwin Barney each looked at eah other at the ball fell in as an error was charged to Wallace. Patterson was pulled from the game for Eddie Kunz. OSU's closer came in and gave up a single to Jon Wilhite to put runners on first and third with two outs before getting a groundout to end things, and send home the huge Beaver contingent to their hotels, very happy.

More to come from Rosenblatt, where once againt he final score, Oregon State 3, Cal State Fullerton 2.