• Recap
• Bleachers

Reyes, Oregon St. win Game One of CWS

Jun 24, 2007 - 7:06 AM OMAHA, Nebraska (Ticker) -- Freshman Jorge Reyes helped Oregon State move to within one win of becoming College World Series champions in back-to-back seasons.

Reyes pitched effectively into the seventh inning and Jordan Lennerton homered to lift Oregon State to an 11-4 triumph over No. 3 North Carolina in the opener of the best-of-three series.

Reyes pitched 6 1/3 innings, yielding three runs and eight hits. He struck out three and walked one.

"We're obviously excited about winning the first game," Oregon State coach Pat Casey said. "We're very well aware we have to win again. We're very proud of our club. We got a tremendous start from freshman Jorge Reyes. We're getting some great performances. We've got a lot of guys doing a lot of good things."

Reyes held the Tar Heels scoreless for the first four innings before giving up a two-run double to Reid Fronk in the fifth inning, which cut the Beavers' advantage to 3-2. He improved to 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA in four NCAA Tournament starts.

"It's not getting old at all," Reyes said. "We had the championship trophy here yesterday (during the press conference). I just want it, and I put our team one game closer to it."

Lennerton gave Oregon State an early lead in the second inning with a two-run homer to right center off North Carolina freshman starter Alex White.

"I was looking for a fastball," Lennerton said. "I knew I got a good piece of it, but with the wind blowing in, I wasn't sure how far it would travel."

Oregon State shortstop Darwin Barney tied the school record for career hits at 236 with a single in the sixth inning.

John Wallace had an RBI sacrifice fly and Scott Santschi drove in Barney with a base hit in the sixth to give Oregon State a 6-2 advantage.

White was relieved after pitching just 5 1/3 innings because of a blister on his throwing hand. He surrendered four runs and eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

I made mistakes. When I kept the ball near the knees I was getting ground balls," said White, who is 0-3 in the NCAAs. "I just left the ball up."

Oregon State (48-18), which defeat North Carolina in last year's College World Series in three games, added four insurance runs in the seventh inning thanks to two throwing errors by North Carolina reliever Tyler Trice to make it 10-3.

Tim Federowicz blasted a solo home run - his fifth of the season - over the left field wall for North Carolina in the eighth inning.

Oregon State will face North Carolina (57-15) again on Sunday in Game Two of the College World Series. If Oregon State wins, they will become the first team to repeat as national champions since LSU in 1996-97.