Oregon State Baseball season starts Friday. But it will take three weeks – and 11 games – before the Beavers play at home in Corvallis’ Goss Stadium March 6.
The Beavers enter the 2026 season placed in the top 15 in all major rankings after finishing their 2025 season in the College World Series.
Last year, OSU achieved a 48-16-1 overall record and a No. 4 ranking in the final coaches poll.
Despite having lost six players in the summer’s MLB Draft, the Beavers are still expected to field a strong roster, including one of the top pitching staffs in the NCAA. Oregon State was the only team to have two players featured on Baseball America’s Preseason College Pitcher of the Year Award watchlist, with sophomore right-hander Dax Whitney and junior left-hander Ethan Kleinschmit both earning praise.
However, the Beavers lost seven of the 10 players to record 100-plus at-bats with the team last season, with the returners being infielders A.J. Singer and Jacob Krieg, and outfielder Easton Talt.
Among the losses were shortstop Aiva Arquette, a top-10 pick in the draft, and outfielder Gavin Turley, who holds the records for the most home runs and RBIs in OSU history.
“In the past years we’ve had people like Bazz (Travis Bazzana), Aiva (Arquette), and Gavin (Turley) to really hit the long ball,” Talt said in a Jan. 21 press conference. “But this year, I think Beaver nation and the whole team is excited to play a little small ball behind our pitching staff. We can win games 1-0 – hopefully it’ll be more like 10-0 – but with our pitching staff we only need one.”
In his Feb. 10 press conference, OSU Head Coach Mitch Canham said that Whitney and Kleinschmit would be the Beavers’ top pitchers to open the season, but didn’t commit to who would be next up. “We do feel like we have good depth in the pen,” Canham said. “But what if we need to jump a guy and use him to get this game done. … I don’t know if we want to jump that far ahead yet.”
The Beavers lost several of their most-played pitchers from last season, including draftees Nelson Keljo and Kellan Oakes. Behind Whitney and Kleinschmit, the bullpen will be populated with several new faces, but the players voiced confidence in the pitching staff – especially the top names.
Talt said going against the pitches of Whitney and Kleinschmit, the team’s two preseason All-Americans, in practice will make facing the pitchers of other teams “way easier.”
“It was legit,” he said of his first time facing Whitney in the spring. “I’m pretty sure Dax faced five people – and he struck out all five of us.”
At catcher, where the Beavers must replace drafted second-team All-American Wilson Weber, Canham didn’t say whether senior Bryce Hubbard, sophomore Ryan VandenBrink, or senior Texas A&M transfer Jacob Galloway would start. “It’s going to be (about) trying to find ways for us to be creative in matchups,” Canham said, noting one would likely fill the designated hitter spot. “All three of those guys you really want in the lineup.”
Singer also pointed out the versatility of the team on Feb. 10. “I don’t think I’ve been a part of an infield that can play anywhere on the diamond,” he said. “Outside of Jacob (Krieg) who’s probably predominantly first base, anyone can play anywhere on the infield.”
“We’re going to be really good at doing the small things and doing the big things when it’s needed,” Singer said. “There’s not a guy one through nine that’s not going to have a competitive at-bat.”
That Beaver lineup will get its first chance to impress on Friday against the University of Michigan at 1 p.m. in the College Baseball Series in Surprise, Arizona. There, the Beavers will play four games in as many days, facing Michigan twice, and the University of Arizona (24th in D1Baseball.com’s preseason rankings) and Stanford University once each.
It will mark the 12th straight year the Beavers have started their season in Surprise.
“That’s honestly one of my favorite series,” Krieg said Jan. 21. “Just because all the fans come out and it feels like a home game.”
From there, OSU will play three games in the Round Rock Classic in Texas from Feb 20-22, and then another three in Texas’ Frisco College Baseball Classic from Feb. 28-March 1.
Then, the Beavers will travel to Eugene to face the in-state rival Oregon Ducks on March 3 at 3:05 p.m.
Finally, on March 6, the Beavers will return to Goss for the first of a four-game series against Xavier University. The first game is scheduled to start at 5:35 p.m.
However, after the regular season, which runs through May 16, the Beavers remain focused on returning to Omaha, Nebraska, and winning the university’s fourth national title.
“We have a lot of guys that were on that team (that made the CWS) last year,” Krieg said, “so we know what it takes. We just need resiliency throughout the year. We’re gonna obviously lose a couple games; we just gotta bounce back and have the same intent every day.”
That journey towards the postseason is now just days away.
“That adrenaline that you feel,” Whitney said of the team’s preseason scrimmages on Jan. 21, “you don’t realize how much you miss it.”
