Career games from Oregon State’s Jacob Galloway and Trey Morris led Beaver baseball to a 10-1 win over Washington State in Game 5 of the Eugene Regional Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Beavers will face the No. 1 seeded Oregon Ducks in PK Park later in the day at 6 p.m. in the first game of the regional final. If the Beavers win, the regional champion will be decided on Monday. If OSU loses, the hosting Ducks will advance to the super regional round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament, and the Beavers will be out.
Facing elimination against the team that gave the Beavers their first loss of the tournament, Oregon State started Morris on the mound. The freshman managed career highs in innings pitched (6.2) and pitches thrown (117), allowing just one earned run and tying a career high with nine strikeouts.
“I knew I was going to be able to go a little longer today,” Morris said postgame. “I don’t think I’ve ever thrown that much.”
Morris started the game with six scoreless innings, and on the other side of the ball, the Beaver offense caught fire for the second straight game of the tournament. After putting up nine runs against Yale on Saturday, OSU recorded 10 against the Cougars, including three- and four-run innings in the second and third, respectively, giving OSU an early 7-0 lead.
Catcher Jacob Galloway was central to the Beavers’ offensive success. He went 4-4 with five RBIs, both career highs.
“Facing him, you can tell that’s a really tough out,” Morris said of Galloway. “He works counts, rarely strikes out. You know, he’s gonna make you throw a lot of pitches, and he just finds holes all over the field.”
The Beavers’ Ethan Proctor, AJ Singer, Paul Vazquez, and Easton Talt all recorded two-hit games, with Talt adding two RBI.
The first time the Beavers and Cougars met in the Eugene Regional, Washington State starter Nick Lewis managed a complete game on just 103 pitches in a Cougar win. On Sunday, WSU pulled starter Griffin Smith after 59 tosses in just two innings.
The Beavers used just two pitchers. Late in the game, OSU turned to senior left-hander Tanner Douglas in relief, who allowed just one hit, no runs, and struck out two in 2.1 innings.
“We have one of the best bullpens in the country, if not the best, so it’s full faith whenever we get to hand the ball off to one of them,” Morris said.
A pair of runs in the eighth inning solidified the win for OSU.
Now, the in-state rival Ducks and Beavers are the only two teams remaining in the Eugene Regional. In the regular season, the two teams split their two matchups, but they have yet to face off in the tournament.
“I think we’re set up pretty well,” Morris said. “We got a lot of arms left, so it’s going to be fun.”