The Beaver baseball team began their series against the University of Hawaii with a dominant 12-4 win in game one at Goss Stadium in Corvallis on Friday.
This big win comes after an unexpected home loss to the Oregon Ducks, giving them a much-needed boost of energy heading into the back half of the season.
“Everyone is seeing a beach ball and having a good time, so the rhythm keeps going, and we’re able to put good swings on the ball,”- Paul Vazquez said.
It was star sophomore pitcher Dax Whitney heading the mound for Oregon State, who shockingly gave up a home run to Hawaii’s leadoff batter Kamana Nahaku, giving them an early lead.
Senior Easton Talt led off for the Beavers and got to second base with a walk and a quickly executed steal. He would then be driven home by Bryson Glassco to tie the game.
However, the Beavers were looking for more than just a tie. Following Glassco, Bryce Hubbard would also find his way on base and be driven home, putting the Beavers up by two.
This scoring all happened with no outs and multiple on base, but a double play from Hawaii would allow them to limit the damage.
Whitney would gather his third and fourth strikeouts of the game and hold Hawaii scoreless in the second, and pass 100 strikeouts on the year.
Talt then rewarded the defense by driving in Jacob Galloway on an RBI single to continue his explosive start, even stealing another base before the inning was brought to a close.
With two outs left in the third, Whitney would give up another home run to Tate Shimao, his first of the season, which scored two and dwindled the lead to one for Oregon State.
The Beavers, however, would only swing right back with an RBI double from Paul Vazquez. Hawaii then pulled starting pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno for Saul Sato.
“Refining my approach is all it really took, trying to get into fast ball counts, just trying to see the ball up and put a good swing on it,”- said Vazquez.
This led to only more of the same from the Hawaii defense, as Vazquez would also be sent home to give OSU two runs in the third.
In the fifth inning, Nahaku put another run on the board. This time, with a double and an error, allowing him to reach third. He was then driven home by an RBI grounder before the inning ended.
The lead now 6-4, Oregon State then also saw a player reach third thanks to an error by Tyler Inge. However, this would be much more prosperous as it would drive in two batters already on base to extend their lead once again to four runs.
Whitney saw his strikeout total climb to seven and made it to two outs in the seventh inning, until suddenly, after a pitch, he stepped off the mound and left the game after a brief discussion with his coaching staff, scary for the Beavers, as he is a key piece for the upcoming postseason.
“Never make assumptions, never take things personal, right? So I don’t know yet, he said he felt some tightness and were gonna take it as that,”- said Head Coach Mitch Canham
Filling in would be Noah Scott, who got them out of the inning with no runs scored. Inge would then give the stadium things to feel better about with another RBI single to put Oregon State at nine runs.
Scoring continued to flow like water into the bottom of the eighth for the Beavers. Adam Haight came up to bat with two men on base and proceeded to hit a booming home run into the parking lot past center field. This gave OSU a now double-digit score off of the first home run that the current Hawaii pitcher Josiah Shipley had given up this year.
Scott would hold Hawaii to no more scores to finish out the game, leaving the final score 12-4. Oregon State gathered 15 hits to Hawaii’s five.
The Beavers will face Hawaii two more times, with the second matchup coming on Saturday, in Goss Stadium at 3:05 PM.