Wilson Weber and Carson McEntire fueled a late-game scoring barrage as the Beavers ended an offensive drought to beat the Rainbow Warriors.
It took six innings, but the Oregon State Beavers’ bats finally woke up.
Perhaps they were just living on island time.
Oregon State erased a scoreless tie by plating runs in three of final four innings, riding a late scoring barrage to defeat the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, 7-3, Monday night at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.
It delivered a series victory for the No. 10 Beavers (35-12), who won three of the four meetings against the Rainbow Warriors (29-17).
But it didn’t come without a few innings of anxiety for OSU fans, who labored through another late-night scoring drought. The Beavers produced two singles and drew five walks over the first five innings, but could not not buy a hit with runners on base, as they struggled to fight out of their offensive rut.
When the teams charged into the sixth inning in a scoreless tie, the Oregon State lineup had stretched it scoreless streak to 17 innings. Finally, however, the offense came alive with two outs — and a little luck — in the sixth.
When Trent Caraway swung-and-missed on a 1-2 pitch with two outs, the sixth seemingly ended with another whimper for the Beavers. But the ball sailed toward the backstop and Caraway reached first base on a wild pitch.
One batter later, freshman Carson McEntire ended the scoring slump, hammering a double to left-center field to send Caraway home with the first run of the game. Then, after Easton Talt drew a walk, Aiva Arquette smacked an RBI single to right field to score McEntire and give OSU a 2-0 lead.
All of a sudden, the Beavers found a little mojo.
They went on to mash six hits and draw four free passes over the final four innings, ending the four-game series with a little positive offensive momentum.
Wilson Weber fueled the fireworks, belting two late-game home runs — a solo shot in the seventh and a three-run blast in the eighth — finishing 2 for 3 with four RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. And McEntire, who made his seventh start of the season and first in right field, had an inspiring performance, going 3 for 3 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. The freshman outfielder opened a four-run eighth inning with a one-out solo home run.
The offense was given time to awake thanks to a dominant start by Wyatt Queen. The sophomore right-hander allowed just one run on four hits in his longest and sharpest outing of the season. He tossed a career-high 6 1/3 innings and recorded a career-high seven strikeouts, facing the minimum in four different innings.
Queen, who made his fourth start of the season, improved to 3-1.
Next up: The Beavers host the Portland Pilots Wednesday night in a midweek matchup at Goss Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 5:35 p.m.
(Update: Wednesday night’s game has been canceled, so the Beavers will next play when they open a three-game series at the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.)
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.bsky.social | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.