Struggle continues for Beavers.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

CORVALLIS - Oregon State could use some help.

First for starting pitcher Joe Paterson, who had the longest outing of his college career end with a loss Friday night when USC scored three runs in the eighth inning for a 4-1 victory at Goss Stadium.

And then for Darwin Barney and Mitch Canham, who provided four of OSU's five hits and the lone run scored and batted in as the eighth-ranked Beavers (24-7 overall) fell to 1-4 in the Pac-10 with only their 10th home loss in the past 70 games played here since the start of the 2005 season.

Acknowledging that OSU's league record "sounds terrible," Barney said "it's not the end of the world, and that's how we're going to look at it.

"The Pac-10 is pretty well-rounded this year," he added. "The winner could have seven or eight losses, who knows? It's a different year."

In winning the past two Pac-10 titles, the Beavers went 19-5 and 16-7. In doing that and advancing to consecutive College World Series appearances, OSU seemingly found a way out of every threat by the opponent, or a hitter who would always come up with a clutch hit at opportune times.

Not so Friday, as Paterson pitched out of one USC threat but couldn't escape a second and OSU's only clutch hits came from Canham, singles to drive in one run and advance a runner to third with the other.

"We've just got to find a way to do things better," OSU coach Pat Casey said. "We're just not doing the things that helped us win games" in past seasons.

What Casey won't do is try to analyze where the Beavers are in the standings, as it relates to the rest of the season for the defending national champions.

"I only play one game at a time. We did that last year," Casey said. "I wish we were 4-1 instead of 1-4, but I can't worry about anything but (today's) game."

The Beavers and Trojans (19-13, 2-3) close out the series with a noon game, after splitting the first two nights of the series.

"Starting out 1-4 doesn't really get to you," Barney insisted. "Right now all we can think about is trying to win a series."

Barney did his part with two hits as he reached base four times. Canham also had a pair of hits and reached on an error. But the other OSU hitters were a combined 1-for-26.

"Up and down our lineup, we're pretty solid," Barney said. "We've got to have an all-around team effort, and we didn't get the big hit when we needed it. That's what it's all about. We're not getting those big hits when we need it."

Brad Boxberger, a freshman right-hander, worked seven innings to get the win for the Trojans. He allowed only a single hit in the first, the third and the fourth and struck out five with one walk.

"It's definitely the toughest game I've pitched this year, with the atmosphere and all the fans getting into it," Boxberger said.

He was pulled as he neared his pitch limit of 100, and two relievers each threw a shutout inning.

Paterson had a one-hit shutout himself through five innings, but then was rapped for three consecutive hard-hit balls to start the sixth.

The first of those was a solo homer to left by No. 9 hitter Hector Rabago, his first of the season in only his 28th at-bat. That was followed by a single to right by Matt Cusick and a double just inside the third-base bag by Grant Green, putting runners at second and third with no out and the middle of the USC lineup coming to bat.

Paterson worked out of the jam, however, inducing a weak grounder to first, followed by a strikeout and then another to finish the inning, around an intentional walk to Thurston graduate Johnny Bowden, the USC catcher, that loaded the bases with two out.

The Trojans took the lead in the eighth when Lucas Duda hit his second triple of the game, this one past first base and into the right-field corner, to score two runs and end Paterson's outing after 7 1/3 innings, the longest stint of the junior's career.

"I thought he was pitching well enough to go back out (for the eighth inning)," Casey said. "Next thing you know, they've got a couple runners on."

Paterson allowed five extra-base hits, but two of those were grounders down each baseline, just out of the reach of OSU corner infielders.

"It was going my way in the beginning," Paterson said. "They were smoking balls and we were right there, and then they started hitting ground balls through the holes. It's just the way it goes in baseball."

OSU threatened to come back in its half of the eighth when Barney and Canham singled to put runners at the corners with no outs, but a strikeout and a 3-6-3 double play ended that without a run scoring.

The Beavers scored their run in the third inning when Canham singled in Barney, but that was it for offense for the Beavers.

"My job is to win the game so if (OSU) got one, I've got to hold them to zero," Paterson said. "I didn't do quite enough to get the win.

"We need to pick it up, but we've shown that we can hit the best of them, compete against the best and pitch against the best, so we'll bounce back."

OREGON STATE VS. USC

Today: Noon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.