Beaver baseball hosted the University of Washington late on Friday and new transfer Aiden May took the mound for the first time in front of the Goss faithful.

This was May’s first start since his outing against Arkansas in late February, but the nerves didn’t seem to bother May. After giving up a single to the first batter, May settled in, striking out two in the first.

In the bottom of the first, Travis Bazzana led off the inning with a towering home run.

“I’m seeing it well, I’ve got a good feel for it right now,” Bazzana said. “If they’re going to pitch to me then I’ll swing, if they don’t, I’ll take the walks and run on them.”

The Huskies weren’t keen on pitching to Bazzana after that home run, and they pitched around him the rest of the game.

The Beavers would play small ball in the bottom of the third to score two more. Mason Guerra walked to lead off the inning and would score on a Dallas Macias single into right center. 

Later in the inning, after a wild pitch and interesting base running that would land Macias on third. Jabin Trosky dropped down a safety squeeze, bringing Macias home to put the Beavers up 3-0.

Coming back from a minor arm injury, May’s day ended with five strikeouts and three hits over 2.2 innings.

“It was about making sure we manage the risk,” May said. “We’re playing for the end of the year… If I can stay ready to go later in the year, then that’s more important.”

After May, the combined pitching from Nelson Keljo, Kellan Oakes and Bridger Holmes would keep the Beavs ahead.

Bridger would come into the game in the eighth inning up by two, and the Huskies seemed to have no answer for the right-handed.

“Bridger and I go back and forth on whose slider is better,” May said. “Genuinely we have two of the best sliders in the world.”

Bridger recorded the save as the Beavers won 3-1.

The Beavs continue the series against UW on Saturday at Goss, first pitch 2:05 p.m.