CORVALLIS, Ore. – No. 24 Oregon State raced out to a 22-0 lead and No. 20 Lehigh was never able to recover, as the Mountain Hawks fell 28-10 Thursday night on the opening leg of their trip to the Pacific Northwest at Gill Coliseum. The Mountain Hawks lost the first five weight classes before reeling off three straight victories but the host Beavers won tight battles between nationally-ranked wrestlers in the final two bouts to defeat Lehigh for the second straight year.

 

The loss drops the Mountain Hawks to 6-5 in duals while Oregon State improves to 8-4.

 

“We got out-fought in certain positions,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “We came out to wrestle but then we stopped. We tried to take the easy way out. Instead of closing things out strong we were trying to coast and it cost us the match. That cost us a lot of matches tonight. We could have won this dual meet but we gave it away.

 

For the second straight Lehigh dual, 165 was selected as the starting weight and sophomore Ben Haas got off to a fast start with a pair of first period takedowns to lead 4-1, but Toney Chay answered with two second period takedowns, the second of which ended with him putting Haas on his back and securing a fall at 4:33.

 

At 174, freshman Elliot Riddick couldnÂ’t convert on a few early shots and never got untracked as Joe Latham pulled the upset 5-2. Latham scored an unanswered takedown late in the first period and rode out Riddick in the second. The 14th-ranked Mountain Hawk picked up a takedown in the third but was unable to complete the comeback.

 

Oregon State made it three straight wins to open the dual as Austin Morehead posted an 11-1 major decision over freshman Zach Diekel at 184. The BeaversÂ’ lead grew to 19-0 after four bouts as Lehigh forfeited to Taylor Meeks at 197. Sophomore John Bolich did not make the trip due to injury.

 

An 8-4 decision by Amarveer Dhesi over freshman Doug Vollaro at 285 gave Oregon State an 8-4 lead at the halfway point.

 

Freshman Darian Cruz tried to jump start Lehigh using a takedown and three point near fall to lead Joey Palmer 5-1 after one period at 125. Palmer was able to hang around and put Cruz on the defensive, but the Lehigh freshman scored a late takedown to win 9-4 and get Lehigh on the scoreboard.

 

Sophomore Mason Beckman followed with a 4-0 decision over Drew Van Anrooy at 133. Beckman tilted Van Anrooy for three points with a two-on-one early in the second and added an escape late in the third.

 

The Mountain Hawks picked up a bonus point victory at 141 as sophomore Laike Gardner won an 11-3 major over Joey Delgado. Gardner conceded the first takedown but answered with the final three plus a two point near fall as he rode out the second period.

 

“He’s getting a little better each week,” Santoro said of Gardner. “It’s good to see him bouncing back strong. That’s what we need. We’re going to recover from this, it’s just one of those things that right now I can’t explain. We need to be more consistent all the time.”

 

Freshman Mitch Minotti squared off against Scott Sakaguchi in a battle of top 20 wrestlers at 149. Minotti scored a takedown in the first period and led 3-0 with riding time before being reversed and turned for a two point near fall in the closing seconds. The riding time point sent the match to sudden victory where Sakaguchi converted a double leg for the winning score early in the overtime period to win 6-4.

 

The dual concluded with eighth-ranked senior Joey Napoli battling ninth-ranked RJ Pena. A back-and-forth start saw Pena score first but Napoli answered with an escape and takedown to lead 3-2 after one period. The bout turned in the second period with Napoli leading 4-2 as Pena scored a takedown and turned Napoli for three points to lead 7-4 after two. Napoli could not come back from a four-point third period deficit but did pick up a late takedown making the final score 8-6 in PenaÂ’s favor.

 

The Mountain Hawks will now head to Boise, Idaho to battle Boise State on Sunday. Match time is set for 11:30 a.m. MT (1:30 p.m. ET) from Bronco Gym.

 

“We’ve been able to bounce back all year but we shouldn’t have had to learn this lesson three different times,” Santoro said. “We have to go out and wrestle every time we go out. We only have 16 opportunities to compete then we go to the postseason. It’s not that much, so we need to be ready all the time and prepare ourselves the right way, whether its workouts, resting right or eating correctly. Those are all the things that go into a championship season. If you don’t do those things, you’ll come up short.”

 

Oregon State 28, Lehigh 10

165 – Toney Chay (OSU) Fall Ben Haas (Lehigh) 4:33

174 – Joe Latham (OSU) dec. Elliot Riddick (Lehigh) 5-2

184 – Austin Morehead (OSU) major dec. Zach Diekel (Lehigh) 11-1

197 – Taylor Meeks (OSU) won by forfeit

285 – Amarveer Dhesi (OSU) dec. Doug Vollaro (Lehigh) 8-4

125 – Darian Cruz (Lehigh) dec. Joey Palmer (OSU) 9-4

133 – Mason Beckman (Lehigh) dec. Drew Van Anrooy (OSU) 4-0

141 – Laike Gardner (Lehigh) major dec. Joey Delgado (OSU) 11-3

149 – Scott Sakaguchi (OSU) dec. Mitch Minotti (Lehigh) 6-4, s.v.

157 – RJ Pena (OSU) dec. Joey Napoli (Lehigh) 8-6

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Steve Lomangino
Media Relations Director - Lehigh University Athletics
sjl304@lehigh.edu
610-758-3174