The Oregon State Beavers eliminated the TCU Horned Frogs from the NCAA Tournament in a 7-2 win on Saturday afternoon at Goss Stadium.
In a win-or-go-home game, the Beavs looked toward freshman pitcher Dax Whitney to toe the slab and deliver them their first regionals win. That’s precisely what the doctor ordered as a medicine of 12 strikeouts, and only letting up two runs, keeping the Frogs at bay for six innings.
“Response to yesterday, especially by our starting pitcher (Dax Whitney), this young man who is continually developing and becoming even more so deep than people ever realized, I was just talking to him outside just an amazing job with his changeup today as well, executing every pitch in the zone where he wanted it, and setting the tone for our guys to go out there and compete today,” said head coach Mitch Canham.
Goss Stadium was rocking, and that was something they struggled to do yesterday after falling behind immediately 0-3 in the first inning. Whitney made quick work in the first as he struck out the side and allowed the fans to become the 10th man on the field.
“I have a lot of confidence on the mound, but having all those people behind me just really fuels you and just makes you feel like there’s no doubt you’re gonna succeed,” said Whitney.
In the bottom of the fifth, Aiva Arquette got the home run party started with a base knock, and Gavin Turley followed up with a walk to put two runners on the pond. Sure enough, TCU starting pitcher Mason Brassfield made the crucial mistake of throwing it right down the pipe as Wilson Weber launched a three-run blast to put the Beavs up 3-0, the direct opposite of Friday’s first-inning score.
“I knew I was either getting a heater or a slider. So just walking up to the plate, started off with the on-deck routine, took my helmet off, said a quick prayer, I actually asked for a homer there, which is pretty cool too, and then went up there and walked up with some confidence, saw the heater, stuck to my approach took it the other way, pulled it a little bit left of center, and it ended up working out fine,” said Weber.
Home runs became rapid as Trent Caraway would launch a bomb in the bottom of the second to put the Beavs up 4-0. However, this wasn’t enough, as in the next inning, AJ Singer would lead off with a solo bomb of his own, extending the lead to 5-0.
Finally, Tyce Peterson put the nail in the coffin and sent an opposite-field home run to give the Beavs their seventh run of the game. TCU would respond as Isaac Cadena hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifth. Yet, at this point, it wasn’t enough to spark any energy into the opposing team’s dugout.
TCU brought it upon themselves to leave Corvallis without class. Antics from Horned Frog pitcher Breadon Sloan led to an altercation with Trent Caraway in the bottom of the fifth. This was followed by fans repeatedly booing and chirping at the TCU players in the dugout when the inning came to a close.
“It’s easy in that situation to just roll over and start thinking, ‘man, what if our season is over,’ this or that, but just another testament to our team, like we fought literally to the last out. And that’s one of the things I said to the guys we put in way too much work to roll over,” said Braedon Sloan in an attempt to fire up his TCU squad.
OSU pitcher Nelson Keljo relieved Whitney in the seventh inning and silenced the animosity with three shutout innings, only giving up two hits with four strikeouts to close out the game.
The provided tension made the Beavs’ victory feel a lot sweeter as they await to play the loser of Saint Mary’s versus the University of Southern California game Saturday at 6 p.m. first pitch.
Oregon State will play the winner on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Goss Stadium.
