Oregon State’s baseball team is currently sitting at a No. 6 national ranking, the winners of 10 straight and off to its best start since their 2018 national championship campaign, but they aren’t a perfect team — yet.
The Beavers took a four-game sweep of CSUN. Despite a perfect record, things were closer than they maybe should have been for a team perched in the top 10 nationally. There are, however, some solid reasons as to why.
They’ve got the injury bug pretty bad at the moment. Injuries always happen, so if there is any good to come from them, it’s that they came early and give the Beavers more time to figure out how to work with them.
Starting pitcher and highly touted transfer portal Aiden May went his second weekend without making an appearance on the mound for the Beavers since coming out of a game against Arkansas with elbow tightness. May isn’t the only pitcher on the fritz, as presumed closer Kyle Scott has yet to throw in a game since appearing against Minnesota on opening weekend with an undisclosed injury.
The Beavers have gotten solid starts out of guys like Jacob Kmatz, Jaren Hunter and Eric Segura; but with conference play beginning in the next series and the rotation shortening from four to three, having May back to toe the rubber on Friday nights will do a lot of good. Adding Scott back, if he returns this year, would also take a lot off the plate — and elbow— of junior Bridger Holmes.
Pitching isn’t the only place where injuries have lurked, as Oregon State played all four games against CSUN with only six of their regulars at full health. Outfielders Brady Kasper and Micah McDowell, who got banged up in the NDSU series, were both relegated to DH roles to keep them in the lineup seeing pitches but prevent further injury. McDowell got the start in all four, but he and Kasper played a game of musical chairs all weekend with pinch runners.
No. 6 Oregon State baseball takes series opener over CSUN 9-2 By the end of the weekend, McDowell took all four of his at-bats and ran the bases in the two hits he got. It didn’t appear as though Kasper was in uniform for Sunday’s contest and he did not enter the game, but cold weather may have disguised him in a coat. The right fielder came up gimpy after a run to first base Saturday, looking like he may have aggrivated his injury. Head coach Mitch Canham said there just wasn’t a situation to get him in, not indicating to any sort re-injury for Kasper.
Trent Caraway was also missing from the lineup all weekend. The freshman third baseman was battling illness and was not present for the first three games to stay home and rest. He was in the dugout in uniform on Sunday and shagged balls at third in pregame, but didn’t enter the contest. He’ll likely be full go for the team’s upcoming series with Utah.
Even without the three, this offense has firepower seeping out of its pores. Surprise, surprise, It was another cold March weekend in Corvallis, with rain coming into play for multiple parts of three of the games. Wind was also a factor, as it most often blew in from right field at gusts as hard as 30 mph if Apple’s weather app was correct. Regardless, The Beavers still found ways to annihilate baseballs.
Jacob Krieg set a school record for exit velocity on a Friday home run, hitting it 118 mph out of the park. The ball barely got 50 feet off the ground with a launch angle of just 18 degrees. With how hard the baseball was pieced on Krieg’s swing, its a shock it didn’t vaporize on impact. Obviously Krieg gets the benefit of swinging a metal bat, but it was a big league hack nonetheless.
No. 6 Oregon State baseball takes game two over CSUN, gets bets start since 2018Kreig finished the series as arguably the best bet in the order for Oregon State and making a strong case to be named Pac-12 player of the week. He homered three times in four games, seven total hits of which five went for extra bases. Kreig also was a four-game starter at first base in series as position regular Mason Guerra filled in for Caraway. With the outfield fully healthy, he looks like a shoe in for the every day DH role.
Travis Bazzana continued to prove why he’ll be a top five draft pick by Major League Baseball, picking up two hits in all four games. He finished the weekend with eight hits and reached base a total of 11 times. The Australian currently has a batting average of .450 and an on-base percentage of .588.
Moving back to pitching, there were some tough outings for this Beavers bullpen. Particularly on Sunday, where things got out of hand between Eric Segura’s five innings of work and Bridger Holmes coming in to clean up the last two batters.
Bridger Holmes’ second save in three days nets No. 6 Oregon State baseball sweep of CSUN Four different pitchers toed the rubber between the bookends, with three of them — Kellan Oakes, Noah Ferguson and AJ Hutchenson — were all on their second outing of the weekend and combined for five hits, six free bases and five earned runs. Tephen Montgomery was the only one to see his first action of the weekend in the stretch and showed off a wicked change up but hit a batter and allowed a hit while picking up only one out in his 0.1 innings pitched.
15 games into the year and on a roster with 19 pitchers on the staff, only 10 have appeared in more than four games. Wether it be injuries or slower development than expected from youngsters, the Beavers have to find more options out of the pen to keep them in close conference games.
Freshman’s heroics net No. 6 Oregon State baseball series win over CSUN Conference play will start for Oregon State with a three game series against Utah in Salt Lake City. Starters for the contest have yet to be announced, but first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday, March 15.
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