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.
The Oregon Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Lane County man who once photographed child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey and was convicted in 2021 on several child pornography charges.
Randall DeWitt Simons, 73, of Oakridge, was charged in 2019 with 15 counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse. He was later convicted on every count and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Simons was first arrested after authorities began investigating a report from a restaurant in Oakridge that someone had been using the restaurant’s Wi-Fi to download inappropriate and concerning images.
Law enforcement officers directed the business to track, log, and report all of the user’s internet activity to the investigating officer for more than a year, without a warrant.
Police tracked the computer’s IP address from the restaurant’s Wi-Fi system, which led officers to a man who lived near the restaurant and had given Simons a computer, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lane County Circuit Court. Investigators obtained a warrant to search the laptop in Simon’s home, relying on information they had collected over time. He was subsequently arrested.
On March 26, the court ruled warrantless internet surveillance on public Wi-Fi violates privacy.
In an opinion written by Justice Bronson D. James, the court held that the Oregon Constitution recognizes people have a right to privacy in their internet browsing activities and the right is not extinguished when they use a publicly accessible wireless network. It’s even true in cases where that access is conditioned on a person accepting a terms-of-service agreement that says a provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement, James wrote.
During criminal proceedings in the Lane County Circuit Court, Simons moved to controvert the warrant and suppress the evidence obtained by police, arguing the business was a “state actor for purposes of Article I, section 9, and that its year-long warrantless surveillance was an unconstitutional, warrantless search attributable to the state,” the Supreme Court opinion said.
The Circuit Court denied Simon’s motion. The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision in part and stated Simons had no cognizable privacy interest in his internet activities performed on a third-party network.
The Oregon Supreme Court rejected the state’s argument.
“The mere fact that a person accesses the internet through a public network does not eliminate their Article I, section 9, right to privacy in their online activities,” according to James. “Even when access is expressly conditioned on a user’s acceptance of terms-of-service provisions purporting to alert the user that the provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement.”
Justice K. Bushong suggested in a partial dissent the Court should reconsider its approach in a future case to what constitutes a “search” under the Oregon Constitution. The court’s decision reverses the Court of Appeals and sends the case back to the Lane County Circuit Court for further proceedings.
Simons has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in 2019.
Simons had been a photographer for 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey a few months before her still-unsolved 1996 murder, the Associated Press reported in 1998.
In October 1998, Simons was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure in Lincoln County, Colorado. According to the book “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town” by Lawrence Schiller, Simons was arrested in 1998 for allegedly walking nude down a residential street in the small town of Genoa, Colorado. Simons allegedly offered to the arresting deputy unprovoked, “I didn’t kill JonBenét.”
Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com.
Umatilla, Morrow counties establish Young Republicans of Oregon chapter
Published 8:00 pm Wednesday, March 25, 2026
IRRIGON — Young Republicans living in Umatilla and Morrow counties now can join a local chapter of the statewide Young Republicans of Oregon organization.
The Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will advance Republican values and leadership in young residents through political training, networking opportunities and connection to Republican leaders. The group is focused on young adults, generally attracting college-aged people, though it includes people aged 18 to 40.
The five Young Republicans of Oregon members living in Umatilla and Morrow counties elected three officers to lead their new chapter. Irrigon’s Evan Purves was elected chair, with Connor Roberts of Hermiston as his vice chair and Kaelyn Moore of Milton-Freewater serving as secretary.
“I am super grateful for this opportunity to lead my neighbors,” Purves said. “It’s going to be really fun. We have some good events planned.”
Purves, 19, is a student at Blue Mountain Community College who eventually hopes to pursue a four-year degree in public administration. He initially became interested in the Young Republicans during an internship with Oregon state Rep. Greg Smith, of Heppner. He said it was an experience that showed him how the legislature works.
The internship also inspired him to step into a leadership role with the Young Republicans and help establish a local chapter of the organization. The newest chapter of the Young Republicans of Oregon, which was announced Monday, March 23, has been in the works since November 2025.
The Young Republicans of Oregon State Chair, Tanner Elliott, said the new chapter — the fourth chapter statewide — indicates momentum for conservative values.
“In less than a year, we’ve continued expanding because young conservatives are stepping up and getting involved in their communities,” Elliott said. “I want to congratulate the chapter’s leadership team on their election and especially commend their new chair Evan Purves for taking on this role. I’m confident this group will make a meaningful impact in Eastern Oregon and help drive our organization forward.”
Future plans in Umatilla, Morrow counties
The leadership team of UMYR already is making efforts to effect change.
In early May, Purves said, Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will host a door knocking campaign in support of Smith’s reelection campaign. There also will be an official kickoff event the same weekend celebrating the new chapter and outlining priorities for the future.
“If there’s anything that we might struggle with is membership,” he said. “The recruiting part is us going out there and hosting events and socials, having opportunities for people to come out and do something fun that anybody’s invited to.”
Regarding other priorities, voter engagement is important to Purves,
“Even though we live in a big conservative area, there’s not a lot of politically engaged people, especially in my generation,” he said. “We want to get them involved.”
He said one of his concerns is businesses leaving the state due to policies that aren’t friendly to corporations, a common issue raised by Republican lawmakers. The decisions being made impact every community, he said, and he wants to have a say in what the leaders are doing.
“These bills affect all of us,” he said. “It’s just important to get people involved and get people to vote and be a part of it.”
People interested in updates on the efforts of the Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans can follow the group on Facebook or Instagram or become a member at yro.gop.
Doorbell camera shows fireball streaking across the sky over Stow, Ohio,
Thousands of people across eastern Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania heard a loud boom that the National Weather Service (NWS) said may have been caused by a meteor.
Yet another meteor has entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
Onlookers across parts of California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon spotted another space rock streaking across the sky on Monday, March 23.
Jason Jenkins, who spotted the fireball while driving to work, told ABC News that the meteor reminded him of a “lightning strike because it was so bright.”
“The video doesn’t do justice on how bright and close it seemed,” Jenkins added.
The American Meteor Society received 137 witness reports and 11 videos chronicling the brief but dazzling moment.
Watch ‘fireball’ streak across Oregon skyline
Videos show green fireball streaking across night sky
A green fireball was seen crossing the sky in the Pacific Northwest.
From northeast Ohio to Texas, the March 23 event was the latest in a series of sightings across the U.S. this week. Those sightings were characterized by a “loud boom” and a rogue meteor fragment.
Hundreds of people in California, Nevada and Arizona captured another “shooting star” on camera this last weekend. The vast majority of reports came out of California.
A bright, glowing orb zipping through the night sky, trailed closely by a signature fiery “tail,” is seen in various clips shared by awestruck residents over the course of the week. Some even reported a greenish-yellow glow as the space rock lit up the sky for about five seconds.
What is a meteor?
Meteors, like comets or asteroids, are space rocks that orbit the sun, according to NASA.
Often called “shooting stars,” meteors come from meteoroids − small, often pebble-sized pieces that break off asteroids or comets. When a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere, it becomes a meteor.
Because meteors enter the atmosphere at such high speeds, the space rocks burn up as they fall from our sky, creating the streak of light we commonly know as a shooting star or “fireball.”
If a meteor survives the entry and ends up on the ground (or lodged in someone’s roof), it is then called a meteorite.
Contributing: Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY
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