Game one of the Civil War came down to the bottom of the ninth, two outs, the bases loaded and a full count. The game’s entirety, down to one pitch. The man in the box is freshman, Kyle Kasser, who’s making his seventh at-bat of the season. The pitch? Ball four, Oregon wins 3-2.
Between Oregon State’s Andrew Moore – a Eugene native – and Oregon’s Cole Irvin, runs came at a premium.
“He pitched a great game,” Irvin said of Moore. “We only got two hits the whole night, that’s a credit to him and his work. It was a fun game.”
Both pitchers lasted into the eighth inning, Moore with the better numbers but lesser defensive support.
The Beavers committed four errors, all of which took responsibility for Oregon’s runs.
“We needed good starting pitching,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “Cole (Irvin) gave us that. He gave us some zeros early and let us run our offense.”
A fifth-inning single got Oregon State on the board. It came with two outs and from Trever Morrison, scoring Kyle Nobach from third.
In the bottom half, Oregon mirrored the Beavers. After a Scott Heineman double, one of Oregon’s two total hits, Mark Karaviotis reached on a throwing error from Michael Gretler. Heineman scored on the play.
Three innings later, with two outs, KJ Harrison hit a bloop single to right field that scored Jeff Hendrix from second, giving Oregon State a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Oregon responded. Following a Heineman groundout, Shaun Chase pinch hit for Brandon Cuddy and worked a walk. J.B. Bryant then replaced Chase as a pinch runner.
In the next at-bat, Karaviotis was hit by the pitch, forcing Bryant into scoring position.
Josh Graham then lined out for the second out.
Next, Austin Grebeck grounded a ball to second baseman Caleb Hamilton who couldn’t make the play cleanly and continued with a throwing error, allowing Bryant to score from second. Hamilton was charged with two errors on the play.
Game tied.
Eureste then loaded the bases with a walk.
Nick Catalano, a righty, entered to pinch-hit, but Oregon State countered with a pitching change to Mitch Hickey, also a righty.
Kyle Kasser, a lefty, was called from the dugout.
Kasser, a 165-pound, 5-foot 10-inch freshman, worked the count full. Then, with the bat above his shoulder, he was awarded ball four.
Oregon wins, 3-2.
“Unexplainable, I don’t even know what to say,” Kasser said. “Crazy opportunity.”
A shaving-cream to the face soon followed.
“Got to love every moment of it.”
Oregon plays the Beavers again on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at PK Park.
Key statistics: 
-Cole Irvin: 7.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 5 K
-Andrew Moore: 7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K
-KJ Harrison: 2-4, 1 RBI
-Kyle Kasser: 0-0, 1 BB, 1 RBI
Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly