Oregon
Aiden May’s career night leads Oregon State baseball past rival Ducks … and their gamesmanship
CORVALLIS — It was, as Oregon State Beavers closer Bridger Holmes put it, a “bad idea.”
It was, as OSU Friday night starter Aiden May put it, “one of the worst things they could have done.”
It was, perhaps more than anything, a losing tactic.
After watching May overpower his potent lineup for five innings as if he were playing a video game, Oregon Ducks coach Mark Wasikowski resorted to a little gamesmanship, asking the umpire crew at Goss Stadium to check the Beavers’ ace for an illegal substance.
The ridiculous request backfired, May turned the subterfuge into motivation, and the ninth-ranked Beavers rode his dominance to a much-needed 2-0 victory over the 22nd-ranked Ducks Friday night in the opener of a three-game Pac-12 series in Corvallis.
May baffled the Pac-12’s second-best offense from his first pitch to his last, allowing just one hit and striking out a career-high 14 over eight impressive innings. It was a masterful performance in a heated rivalry matchup, and it came in the Beavers’ first conference outing since their forgettable sweep last weekend at the Cal Bears.
“Love the pitching performance, love the energy from our guys, from our fans,” OSU coach Mitch Canham said. “I just feel like Goss was really in a great place tonight.”
At the very least, a sellout crowd of 3,943 was fired up after watching Wasikowski ask umpires to check May. The Oregon State (32-9, 11-7 Pac-12) ace had been cruising before the ill-fated request, surrendering just one hit and one walk through five innings. But after throwing his warmup tosses in between the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth innings, the umpire crew approached the mound to survey May’s glove. They found nothing but black leather. May found a little extra motivation.
Four pitches later, he fanned Oregon leadoff hitter Justin Cassella, and as the ball whipped around the horn, May glared at the Oregon dugout, tapped the palm of his glove and shouted a few choice words.
“I was just kind of asking them: ‘Where’s the sticky at?’” May said. “If anything, it’s a compliment from them … my stuff was feeling good tonight.”
He went on to retire seven batters in a row and nine of the final 10 he would face, allowing only one base runner over the final three innings. And that came via a throwing error by Mason Guerra on a routine grounder to third base.
May threw 114 pitches, including 83 strikes, mowing through the Ducks (28-13, 11-8) lineup with ease. He tossed 18 first-pitch strikes, had a no-hitter through 4 1/3 innings and allowed just four base runners in the game. Oregon managed only a fifth-inning infield single, a fourth-inning walk and a pair of base runners on OSU throwing errors.
When it was all said and done, May logged career-highs in strikeouts, innings and hits allowed as he improved to 3-0 and lowered his ERA to 3.63. It was the first time since May 10, 2022, that the Ducks were held to one hit, and the first time since March 12, 2023, they were held scoreless.
“Obviously, it’s nasty stuff,” Canham said. “It’s moving. It’s sinking. It’s sliding. It’s riding. It’s doing all that stuff. And sometimes (a substance check) can get in people’s heads. But we saw right away, he just used it as, ‘Hey, my stuff must be pretty good if they want to come out and see what’s going on.’”
When asked what pitches were working for him Friday, May replied: “everything.” But he also admitted that the superfluous substance check by Wasikowski — who has employed similar feeble tactics more than once this season — pushed him to another level.
After recording the final out in each of the final three innings, May danced and skipped off the mound toward the OSU dugout, raising his arms toward the night sky, tapping the palm of his glove and pointing in celebration. When he struck out the side in the eighth, May strutted off the mound, stopped short of his teammates along the third base line and flexed, releasing a monster scream.
“They can’t hit him,” Holmes said. “They know he doesn’t have any sticky stuff. His stuff’s too nasty. They couldn’t hit him, so they checked him. Obviously, it fired him up. I mean, you saw the reactions. He has the potential to do that every outing with the stuff he has. It’s the best stuff in college baseball. But putting it together like that and having the command he did today in a big game like this is huge for the team.”
Holmes’ performance wasn’t too shabby either. After coughing up his first three losses of the season last week — when he allowed two on walk-off homers — Holmes pitched a perfect ninth to earn his ninth save, needing just 11 pitches to retire the heart of Oregon’s lineup in order.
“That,” Canham said, “was a special performance right there.”
The Beavers’ lineup, meanwhile, needed just two swings to deliver a victory. Brady Kasper and Travis Bazzana belted solo home runs in the second and third inning, respectively, to give Oregon State an early 2-0 lead. May took over from there.
Wasikowski poked the bear and the bear clawed back.
“I taunted them a little bit,” May said, grinning, of his reaction to the substance check. “But I was trying to keep it nice and easy. Of course something like that is going to fire up the crowd, is going to fire me up, fire up the bench. It was just kind of a perfect storm and, maybe, one of the worst things they could have done in that moment.”
Next up: The Beavers and Ducks continue their three-game series Saturday night at 6:05 at Goss Stadium.
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
A lot of conclusions could be drawn from Oregon’s big win over Iowa on Saturday. Calling them a “paper tiger” is not one of them.
There is a bizarre opinion among some members of the national media and opposing fanbases that the Ducks haven’t played anyone. Apparently, September 27th was so long ago that it has completely left their memories.
Oregon has faced three ranked opponents so far this season. They have come away with two wins and a close loss to the #2 ranked Indiana Hoosiers at Autzen. They have faced injuries, torrential downpours, and nationally recognized hostile crowds… but I guess that’s not enough.
Oregon is a Paper Tiger?
They are if you believe Will Brackus of CBS Sports. He wrote, “Oregon will be exposed when it has to match up against one of the 12 best teams in the nation.” This is an interesting opinion. Was Oregon “exposed” against Indiana?
Offensively the Ducks certainly struggled in that game. Defensively they held the Hoosiers to 111 rushing yards and 215 passing yards. This is a team that’s currently averaging 232 yards on the ground and 255 yards for the air. They are 6th in the nation with 487 total yards of offense per game. Exposed?
Brackus continued, “The Ducks don’t have the best résumé thus far. Their admittedly gritty win on the road against No. 20 Iowa Saturday was their first triumph against a ranked team all season.”
I guess in an alternate universe the Ducks faced the #3 ranked Nittany Lions in a white-out at Beaver Stadium. They pulled off a massive win, in overtime, over a top 5 team on the road. They did it in an environment that everyone said was arguably the toughest in college football. That means nothing now, apparently.
His final statement was, “Oregon has done nothing to show that it will compete well on a national stage.”
This Team has Shown Nothing?
We could debate if you think the Ducks haven’t shown enough to prove they’re a true contender this season. To think that they have done nothing to show that they would compete well on a national stage is ludicrous.
Right now the Ducks are the 13th best offense, averaging 471 yards per game. Their passing has fallen off a bit because of weather and injuries to key positions. Their run game, however, is 6th in the nation averaging 240 yards per game.
Against the Iowa Hawkeyes, they put up 261 yards on the ground, averaging 7.3 yards per carry. This was the most total yardage that Iowa has given up since 2022. More impressively, it was the most yards per carry since 2014.
The Hawkeyes entered the game as the 3rd best defense in the nation in total yards allowed per game. They were 5th in passing yards allowed and 4th in total yards allowed. They had the 10th best run defense as well. This team was no pushover and it was on the road in the rain.
The Ducks are a physical, run first offense right now. They’re grinding out opponents and imposing their will in the trenches. This is not the Oregon Ducks of 15 years ago. The rest of college football has not woken up to that fact yet.
The Ducks have an Elite Defense
Even if you’re not ready to concede that Oregon has a solid offense, their defense is truly elite.
The Ducks are currently ranked 3rd in overall yards per game. They are #1 in passing defense, allowing only 126 yards through the air. Oregon is also 6th in points allowed per game at 14. They absolutely have a defense that could win a national championship right now.
PFF grades them as the 15th best defense but gives them the 4th best coverage grade in the nation (92.1). They are just barely behind Ohio State (92.2) and Alabama (92.3) on the season. The Ducks have been a no-fly zone for most of the season. They had a couple lapses against Iowa but overall teams have had a very difficult time throwing the ball.
This is not going to be an easy out for any team… regardless of their ranking.
AP Voters Still Doubt Them
Despite beating one of the best defenses in the country, Oregon fell in the AP poll on Sunday. It was clearly much more impressive that Ole Miss defeated The Citadel Bulldogs 49-0 at home. Those late season FCS opponents are always a good litmus test for how legitimate a team is in the rankings.
Oregon dropped to 7th in the AP, but at this juncture this ranking is completely irrelevant. The only ranking that matters are the playoff rankings and we won’t know those for a couple days. Funny enough, the coaches poll kept the Ducks at 6th.
With #7 BYU losing to #8 Texas Tech, and Oregon defeating the #20 ranked Hawkeyes, it’s likely that the Ducks will move up into the top 8. This is a good spot, as it would secure Oregon a home playoff game as long as they win out.
One thing to keep an eye on is USC for the rest of the season. The Ducks play the Trojans at home in a couple weeks whicch will most likely will be the final ranked team on their schedule. Washington dropped to Wisconsin at home on Saturday and will assuredly fall out of the rankings.
Thanks to some special teams heroics, No. 9 Oregon slid past No. 20 Iowa, 18-16, on Saturday — a finish that left Ducks head coach Dan Lanning anything but calm.
Lanning admitted as much after watching kicker Atticus Sappington drill a 39-yard field goal in the rain with seven seconds left to seal the win. Truth be told, the redshirt senior’s composure in the clutch may have exceeded that of his head coach.
“If you want the truth, I was pretty nervous,” Lanning told reporters. “I’m nervous for him because it shouldn’t come down to that moment for Atticus. That guy’s going to feel an unbelievable amount of pressure, however that goes. But, I’m really proud that he’s able to handle a moment like that.”
By now, it’s no secret that it takes a special kind of focus for kickers to lock in and deliver under pressure. Recreating those moments in practice is one thing, but as Lanning put it, “there ain’t nothing like 70,000 fans.”
“Seven seconds left, having to kick that kick. Can’t recreate that in practice, and Atticus handled that like a champ,” added Lanning.
The nail-biting kick capped a game in which Oregon jumped out to a 2–0 lead on a wild safety, then trailed 16–15 after an Iowa touchdown with 1:51 left in regulation. A 24-yard Dante Moore completion boosted the ensuing 10-play, 54-yard series which Sappington closed with the game winner on the road.
After narrowly improving to 8–1 overall and 5–1 in Big Ten play, Lanning’s Ducks have held their own in their second year in the conference. Still, it’s clear the experience is taking some getting used to.
“Well, guys, I guess that’s what they call Big Ten football,” Lanning said to open his postgame press conference. “What an unbelievable game.”
Oregon now turns its attention to its next Big Ten showdown — a road game at Minnesota (6–3, 4–2). Kickoff is set for Friday, Nov. 14, at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.
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The Beavs dominated on the defensive end with 14 blocks and 13 steals while holding the Warriors to 29 percent shooting from the field.
“Tonight was a fun adventure to navigate through the ups and downs of the game. It wasn’t perfect for sure, but in the second half I thought we settled in and executed. The ball moved much more freely, which is a good sign of things to come,” head coach Scott Rueck said.
Five Beavers scored in double figures, led by Lara Alonso-Basurto’s 14-point, 11-rebound double-double. She is the sixth Beav all-time to record a double-double in her debut and first since Taylor Jones in 2020.
Tiara Bolden got the Beavers going early, scoring eight of her 13 points in the opening frame to pace the Beavs to a 23-7 lead. Bolden’s strong all-around performance included seven rebounds and six steals.
A slow second quarter followed the hot first, but the Beavs entered halftime up 35-14 and Kennedie Shuler ensured they would pull away even further in the second half. The junior scored the first four points of the second half on a blow-by drive and turnaround jumper, part of a 19-0 run when combined with a 9-0 end to the second quarter. Shuler finished the day with 10 points, five rebounds, 5 assists and three blocks.
Lizzy Williamson combined with Alonso to own the paint. The seventh-year senior scored 10 points with seven rebounds in just under 15 minutes. Fellow Aussies Keira Lindemans and Katelyn Field combined for 10 more points in their first collegiate action.
Ally Schimel added 11 points thanks to a 3-for-6 day from deep, leading a sophomore class that combined for 23 points. Cloe Vecina poured in eight on 4-of-5 shooting and Elisa Mehyar added four.
Oregon State committed just six fouls in the game, their fewest since being whistled five times on December 10, 2021 against Monmouth.
The Beavers are back in action on Monday when they take on Air Force at 6 p.m. Veterans can claim free tickets to the game on VetTix.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
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