Oregon State baseball takes series opener from Stanford with May’s dominant day

Published 7:55 pm Friday, April 12, 2024

It’s become something of a constant in Corvallis — a dominant Friday on the mound for Aiden May. 

The trend continued April 12 with No. 5 Oregon State’s 6-0 win over Stanford. In just his third outing in front of the Beaver faithful, the right-hander gave his Beavers six scoreless innings and five strikeouts in his start. It was the longest outing of his Oregon State career since joining head coach Mitch Canham’s squad for 2024. 

“Very clean,” Canham said about May’s start. “(He) mixed all of his pitches in there, pummeled the zone. Before I even asked about (his) pitch count he was through four innings … (He) was pretty aggressive, but when you’re filling up the zone they’re going to swing.”

May ran into a touch of trouble, being turned loose to attack the seventh, but promptly walked the lead-off man. Pitching coach Rich Dorman came out to chat with his ace, seemingly having a fresh arm ready to go in the bullpen, but whatever May told Dorman kept him in the contest. May followed it up with another walk to put two aboard. No sweet-talking would keep the righty on the bump and Dorman called upon Joey Mundt to relieve him. 

“After you come out and sit down for a second, you realize that our pen is electric,” May said about not wanting to come out of the game. “To have (Mundt) come out and do exactly what you know he’s going to do every time is sweet. In the moment, I’m a little upset but I realize it was probably the right decision.” 

Mundt himself issued a free pass to the first batter he faced, loading the bases for the Cardinal. It didn’t faze the elder statesman of the Beavers, fanning the next up and forcing a double play to escape the jam. 

While the Card weren’t able to take advantage of leadoff walks or bases loaded situations, Oregon State was. 

Both the first and second innings for the Beavers featured lead off walks — first by Bazzana and Hainline — and were converted into runs. A double from Brady Kasper, who made his first start since March 9 while dealing with a knee injury, got the Beavers on the board. The lead was expanded to three runs with a Dallas Macias no-doubter home run to right field. 

“I felt really good before the game,” Kasper said about his return from injury. “I knew I’d feel good and get out of the box quick … Last Sunday I (started) running a little bit and then Monday through (Thursday) I was ramping up. I had a couple doctors’ visits and they said I was good to go.” 

The Beaver bats fell silent from the third inning to the seventh, recording just a single hit by way of a double from Macias for his second and final hit of the night. 

Oregon State surged back to life in the seventh, doubling the run total. An RBI triple from pinch hitter Wilson Weber was followed by a single from center fielder Canon Reeder, while a bases loaded walk by third baseman Mason Guerra got the final run of the game across. 

Kyle Scott was called upon to close things down, striking out one en route to the final three outs despite surrendering a hit and issuing a walk. 

The Beavers will be back in action against Stanford in game two. Jacob Kmatz will be on the bump in his first action since throwing a complete game in his last start. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. on Saturday, April 13.