CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State’s Jonah Nickerson tossed a five-hitter, striking out nine, as the 14th-ranked Beavers beat Nevada 4-0 in non-conference baseball Saturday afternoon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. Bill Rowe was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in and Darwin Barney was 3-for-5 for OSU (8-4 overall), which won its fourth straight game.

The Beavers and Wolfpack (4-10) conclude their series Sunday at 12 noon; there are approximately 200 tickets remaining for the game and they will go on sale at the ballpark at 10 a.m. The game can be heard live on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area and KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area.

On Saturday, Nickerson tossed OSU’s first complete game of the season. The junior righthander allowed just one hit through five innings and took a three-hitter into the ninth; he didn’t allow a walk as he evened his record at 2-2 and lowered his earned run average to 2.77.

"I pretty much had everything today," Nickerson said. "I felt like it was going to be a good day when I was warming up in the bullpen. I was just getting ahead of hitters and making them hit my pitches and finishing them when I had to."

From the third through the eighth innings, Nickerson didn’t throw more than 13 pitches in an inning. From the fourth through the eighth innings, he retired 13 of the 15 hitters he faced.

"I had a couple short-pitch innings that helped me stay in the ballgame later in the game," Nickerson said. "I was making pitches that they were swinging at and I was getting first- and second-pitch outs, so things were rolling pretty good out there today."

It was the first complete-game shutout for an OSU pitcher since Dallas Buck blanked Washington 7-0 on May 13, 2005. Earlier this season, Nickerson had combined with Joe Paterson and Brian Budrow to shut out Arizona State 11-0 on Feb. 11.

The Beavers did leave 17 runners on base but handed Nickerson a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning and made it 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth. That was a far better position for Nickerson then he found himself with in his last start, a 2-1 loss at California-Davis last week.

"It was a comfortable lead to go out there," Nickerson said. "I felt once the game went on we’d score a couple more, so I just kept building off the confidence of however many runs we did score."

The Wolfpack did manage a pair of hits in the top of the ninth, but OSU rightfielder Scott Santschi made a running catch of a flyball deep into the corner to squelch the rally and keep the shutout intact.

"Jonah pitched fabulous," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "I thought (shortstop) Darwin Barney made some big defensive plays and Scott Santschi made a big catch for us there in the ninth inning. We did a good job getting runners on base; we just weren’t very efficient once we did it, but Jonah kept putting zeroes on the board. I thought we made some pretty key defensive plays."

The Beavers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Tyler Graham led off with a walk, stole second and third and scored on Rowe’s single to centerfield. OSU added a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 3-0 as Mitch Canham and Ryan Gipson delivered back-to-back two-out singles to drive in runs. Oregon State plated its final run in the bottom of the eighth as Barney blooped a double into short left-centerfield and scored on Rowe’s single to right.

Graham, OSU’s centerfielder, left the game after beating out a bunt single in the bottom of the fourth inning as he aggravated a leg injury that had sidelined him for most of the Beavers’ first seven games. It wasn’t clear when he might be able to return.

"Tyler really is a game-changer," Casey said. "That third inning, he steals two bags and you can see the impact he has on our club offensively. Somebody is just going to have to pick him up. We’re going to have to grow up in a hurry with some young guys and somebody’s going to have to take care of business until he’s ready to go again."

Nevada 000 000 000 - 0 5 4

Oregon State 001 020 01x - 4 13 1

Rodriguez, Keroher (6), Dorsett (7), Masten (8), Brolsma (8) and Opdyke. Nickerson and Canham. W-Nickerson (2-2). L-Rodriguez (2-3). 2B-Barney (OSU).

HITS: Nevada 5 (Williams 2x4, Krukow 1x1, Radkowski (2x2), Oregon State 13 (Graham 2x2, Barney 3x5, Rowe 2x4, Wagner 1x4, McFeely 1x5, Canham 2x4, Gipson 2x4). RUNS BATTED IN: Nevada 0, Oregon State 4 (Rowe 2, Canham 1, Gipson 1).

Nevada 0 (4-10) Oregon State 4 (8-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------

Ciarlo, David 2b........... 3 0 0 0 Graham, Tyler cf........... 2 1 2 0

Williams, Durrell cf....... 4 0 2 0 Kahalehoe, Koa pr/cf...... 2 0 0 0

Bowman, Matt dh............ 4 0 0 0 Santschi, Scott rf......... 5 0 0 0

Walsh, Terry lf/1b......... 4 0 0 0 Barney, Darwin ss.......... 5 1 3 0

Scobee, Shawn rf........... 3 0 0 0 Rowe, Bill 1b.............. 4 0 2 2

Eastham, Daniel 1b/3b...... 3 0 0 0 Gillespie, Cole lf......... 2 0 0 0

Joynt, Brian 3b............ 2 0 0 0 Wagner, Geoff dh........... 4 1 1 0

Krukow, Baker ph.......... 1 0 1 0 Lissman, Mike ph.......... 0 0 0 0

Johnson, Drew pr/lf....... 0 0 0 0 McFeely, Shea 3b........... 5 1 1 0

Opdyke, Jordan c........... 3 0 0 0 Canham, Mitch c............ 4 0 2 1

Foley, Ryan ss............. 0 0 0 0 Gipson, Ryan 2b............ 4 0 2 1

Radkowski, Leo ss......... 2 0 2 0 Kunda, Chris 2b........... 0 0 0 0

Rodriguez, Ryan p.......... 0 0 0 0 Nickerson, Jonah p......... 0 0 0 0

Keroher, Kody p........... 0 0 0 0

Dorsett, Wesley p......... 0 0 0 0

Masten, Steven p.......... 0 0 0 0

Brolsma, Owen p........... 0 0 0 0

Totals..................... 29 0 5 0 Totals..................... 37 4 13 4

Score by Innings R H E

-------------------------------------------

Nevada.............. 000 000 000 - 0 5 4

Oregon State........ 001 020 01X - 4 13 1

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E - Joynt 2; Foley 2; Barney. DP - Nevada 2; Oregon St. 2. LOB - Nevada 4; Oregon

St. 17. 2B - Barney. HBP - Ciarlo; Foley; Lissman. SH - Gillespie; Gipson. SB -

Williams; Eastham; Graham 2. CS - Williams; Johnson.

Nevada IP H R ER BB SO

------------------------------------------------

Rodriguez, Ryan L,2-3..... 5.0 9 3 1 3 1

Keroher, Kody ............. 1.0 1 0 0 1 0

Dorsett, Wesley ........... 1.0 2 1 1 0 0

Masten, Steven ............ 0.2 1 0 0 1 0

Brolsma, Owen ............. 0.1 0 0 0 0 0

Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO

------------------------------------------------

Nickerson, Jonah W,2-2.... 9.0 5 0 0 0 9

WP - Nickerson. HBP - by Nickerson (Ciarlo); by Nickerson (Foley); by Masten (Lissman).

Umpires - HP: Terry Fischer 1B: Mik Hendrickson 3B: Kendall Snyder

Start: 1:07 PM Time: 2:47 Attendance: 2042

Dorsett faced 1 batter in the 8th.