The Beavers have won eight of the past 10 series against the Cardinal.
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State center fielder Jeff Hendrix singled home the winning run in the 13th inning on Saturday as the Beavers edged Stanford 1-0 to clinch the Pacific-12 Conference series.
Hitless in his first five at-bats, Hendrix lined a 3-2 pitch from reliever AJ Vanegas over a drawn-in infield and into left-center field to plate Trever Morrison with the lone run. The Beavers (24-6 overall, 8-3 Pac-12) stretched their winning streak to five straight overall and four in a row in Pac-12 play.
Morrison led off the 13th with a single, the first time all game OSU’s leadoff batter reached safely. He advanced to second on a passed ball and then slid safely into third when Stanford made a play on him on Logan Ice’s sacrifice bunt instead of taking the easy out at first. Hendrix followed with his first walk-off hit as a collegian, a feat that earned him a traditional shaving-cream pie in the face during postgame interviews.
Oregon State starter Andrew Moore and four relievers combined to handcuff Stanford (10-13, 3-5) on nine hits. Moore went the first seven innings; reliever Scott Schultz held the Cardinal hitless over the final 4.2 innings for his fourth victory of the year.
The Beavers mustered only six hits off Vanegas and Stanford starter Cal Quantrill, but strong situational pitching and defense kept them in the game. The Beavers turned three inning-ending double plays, the last of which was a stellar 6-4-3 twin killing on an attempted hit-and-run play that ended the top of the 12th.
Moore scattered eight hits over seven shutout innings as he rebounded from the shortest start of his career in a sub-par effort in an 11-2 loss at Arizona on March 29. He struck out seven, walked four, and lowered his ERA from 2.58 to 2.18.
Reliever Zack Reser pitched 0.2 scoreless innings and Brandon Jackson got the final out of the eighth to strand two runners. Trent Shelton got the first out of the ninth; Schultz replaced him following a walk and went the distance. The bullpen did not allow a hit over the final five innings.
Stanford starter Cal Quantrill matched Moore zero for zero, as he allowed just three hits over eight innings, with six strikeouts and one walk. He pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, the only time OSU had more than one baserunner off Quantrill, the son of former major-league pitcher Paul Quantrill.
Vanegas added four scoreless innings before faltering in the 13th. He had not allowed an earned run in 14 innings over seven appearances to that point.
The Beavers set a club record with their seventh consecutive victory against Stanford over the past three seasons.
