Oregon State 197-pounder Dan Pitsch earned an upset of 12th-ranked Casey Phelps of Boise State (6-4, 2-3) and Ty Watterson, OSU's heavyweight who is ranked 17th nationally, took a 2-1 decision over the Broncos' Andy Patrick. Both teams were without nationally ranked wrestlers, as Beaver 157-pounder Tony Hook and BSU 133-pounder Scott Jorgensen were out of the lineup.
The Beavers return home next weekend for their final three home duals of the season, all to be wrestled in the Merritt Truax Indoor Center. Oregon State wrestles Cal State-Bakersfield on Friday at 7 p.m. in a Pac-10 meet, then on Saturday OSU takes on Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. and Fresno State at 7 p.m.
On Sunday, the strong start by the Beaver lightweights gave OSU a 13-0 lead.
"Those first three guys did exactly what they're supposed to do - they went out and got it started," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "They got everybody fired up … At Arizona State (in a loss on Friday night), we were close on some opportunities; today, we were attempting more and executing better.
"It's always a team issue, because once you get some momentum built up, it's hard for the other team to take that back … We wrestled with some courage, we went out and scored points."
After his 9-1 major decision over Cory Fish, Stevenson is now 21-7 with four pins this season, one ahead of Watterson for the team lead in victories. Stevenson has won 14 of his last 18 matches with all four pins in that stretch.
Pfennigs, who just returned to OSU's lineup on Friday after being out with an injury since early December, flattened BSU's Jeremy Baker in 5:18. Larson then beat Jordan Brock 15-5 for his seventh straight win and his 12th in his last 13 matches; he's now 17-4 with three pins this winter.
OSU 174-pounder Jeremy Larson, ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10, took an 8-3 decision over Ben Gilliland for his eighth win in a row. The larger Larson is 18-8 this season, having won 12 of his last 14 matches.
Wells had thought the dual could come down to the final two matches, and by then the Beavers led 19-10.
Pitsch's upset of Phelps - his first win over a nationally ranked wrestler this season - wrapped up the team victory and improved Pitsch to 10-8 this winter. Phelps went into the match ranked second in the Pac-10 while Pitsch was ranked fourth.
Watterson then finished things with his victory, a 2-1 decision over Andy Patrick; Watterson is ranked second in the Pac-10 and Patrick fourth. Watterson is 20-7 with a team-high seven pins this season.
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