By Nic LaPonte
The Pilots suffered a disappointing loss on Tuesday at Goss Stadium in Corvallis as they dropped a non-conference game to the Oregon State Beavers and moved on to a record of 14-17 on the season.
OSU is ranked ninth with a record of 26-7 this season.
The game began with the Beavers knocking in two runs in the first inning, immediately putting pressure on Pilot starter junior Brian Yoakum.
Portland came back in the third, scoring two runs off an RBI single from junior center fielder Cory Wiltshire, which allowed Pilot shortstop C.J. Cullen to score from third. A wild pitch from OSU starter Jorge Reyes let freshman left fielder Jeff Arbayo steal home.
The score remained 2-2 for three more innings, until the top half of the sixth, when Portland added another run off an RBI double batted in by sophomore first baseman Chase Powell.
The hit by Powell allowed junior Brandon Howard, who began the inning with a single to right field, to score.
When the Beavers came up to bat again, they promptly scored an unearned run off of Portland relief pitcher, junior Chris Siegfried.
For those unfamiliar with this bit of baseball terminology, the difference between an earned run and an unearned run is that only earned runs count against a pitcher's earned run average (ERA) record.
Earned runs are runs that are scored due to normal pitching and not because of a fielding error or a passed ball.
Runs are only counted as unearned when a batter reaches base on an error, and later comes around to score in that inning; when a baserunner scores after the third out would have been made; or when a batter or runner advances one or more bases due to an error, and the inning ends before he otherwise would have scored.
The Pilots took back the lead in the seventh with junior outfielder Danny Meier scoring on an OSU error.
The next two innings saw a total of nine runs scored for the Beavers, and put the hopes of victory for the Pilots to rest. In the eighth inning the Beaver's Jordan Lennerton hit a home run with the bases loaded and scored four runs. After the grand slam by Lennerton, OSU led the Pilots in what would be the final score of 12-4.
Siegfried picked up the Portland loss, his first of the season. The next Pilot game will be against the San Diego Toreros in San Diego for a three-game West Coast Conference series this weekend.
