CORVALLIS, Ore. -- There were 2,785 fans at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field on Saturday afternoon. It’s doubtful that any of them could have expected they would witness history when they stepped into the stadium.
That they did, however, as Drew Rasmussen became the first Oregon State pitcher to throw a perfect game in Oregon State’s 3-0 victory against Washington State.
According to the Pac-12 media guide, it’s just the fourth perfect game in league history, and first since Washington State’s Joe McIntosh in 1973.
Rasmussen faced 27 batters, recorded 10 strikeouts and needed just 103 pitches to shut down the Cougars. The Beavers (17-5 overall, 3-2 Pac-12 Conference) played perfect defense behind him, and Oregon State will go for a sweep Sunday after witnessing a rare feat.
“Unreal,” Rasmussen said. “It’s been an unreal day. It’s been awesome. It’s been so much fun. Not much more I can say. Pretty surreal right now. It was a fun game and I had a lot of help behind me and let’s go get a series sweep tomorrow.”
Rasmussen recorded six of his outs by fly ball and 11 by ground balls. Of his 10 strikeouts, six came against the top four batters in the Cougars’ (12-10, 1-4) lineup, including two apiece to No. 2 Wes Hatten and No. 3 Ian Sagdal.
Leading up to Saturday’s game, there had been five no-hitters in school history, with three coming under head coach Pat Casey. The last, thrown by Jace Fry against Northern Illinois last season, saw the left-hander walk two. In 2011, Josh Osich threw a no-hitter at UCLA, and came close to a perfect game, but issued a 3-2 walk.
The win pushed Rasmussen to 3-0 this season, and his earned run average dropped to 1.36. He’s walked five to 40 strikeouts in 39.2 innings.
The Beavers didn’t manage much offense against Washington State starter Joe Pistorese, but made it count. KJ Harrison singled home a run in the first for a 1-0 lead, then watched as OSU manufactured two runs in the seventh. Michael Gretler singled through the left side for the second run of the game, and the next batter, Trever Morrison, squeezed in the third run.
Pistorese was on the short end of the perfect game as he also went the distance but took the loss to drop to 3-2 on the year. He allowed five hits and three runs -- one earned -- while striking out six and walking two.
Jeff Hendrix reached on an infield single to extend his hit streak to a season-long 12 games.