SALT LAKE CITY -- Jace Fry allowed just three hits in a complete-game shutout on Sunday as the fourth-ranked Oregon State baseball team swept Utah with an 8-0 win.
Oregon State has won 24 of its last 30 (80 percent) conference series dating back to 2011, with nine coming as sweeps. It’s the third consecutive season OSU has opened conference play with a sweep, doing so at Cal in 2012 and at Arizona in 2013 in addition to this season.
Fry, who is the first Oregon State pitcher to four wins this season, allowed his first hit of the game in the third, a double off the bat of Braden Anderson. He then went on to retire the next eight batters before Anderson singled to right in the sixth. Kody Davis’ gave Utah its third hit in the ninth.
Fry, making his first start since his March 8 no-hitter against Northern Illinois, ended the game with six strikeouts and the lefty did not issue a walk. He now has five complete games in his career, with four coming as shutouts.
Oregon State pitchers held Utah to just 15 hits and two runs over the three-game series. Each starter -- Fry, Ben Wetzler and Andrew Moore -- all tossed quality starts, giving the Beavers 17 in 21 games this season.
Logan Ice paced the Beavers offensively with the first three-hit game of his career; it marked his third multi-hit game of the season. He singled in the second, fourth and sixth innings, scoring two runs in the process.
Overall, the Beavers rapped out 11 hits as a team. Dylan Davis and Michael Conforto each tallied two as well with the latter driving in three runs to give him a Pac-12 best 30 on the year.
Conforto put the Beavers (18-3 overall, 3-0 Pac-12 Conference) on the board in the first with a two-run single. He then scored when Kavin Keyes hit into a double play as Oregon State ended the first with a 3-0 lead.
Freshman Trever Morrison was involved in the Beavers’ next three runs. He singled home Ice in the second for OSU’s fourth run. Then, in the fourth, he reached on a fielder’s choice for the Beavers’ fifth run and then was caught stealing second, enabling Ice to score from third.
Utah (8-10, 0-3) starter Tanner Banks took the loss and dropped to 1-4 on the year. The lefty lasted 3 1/3 innings and allowed six hits and six runs with two walks and a strikeout.
The win marked Oregon State’s 10th consecutive, which is tied with Kansas State for the longest active win streak in the nation. OSU has also posted at least one 10-game win streak in four of the last five seasons.
