Oregon State baseball ends homestand with win over Rutgers, pushing streak to 10 in a row

After nine games and 12 days, the Oregon State baseball team’s longest homestand of the season is finally over.

But what a homestand it was.

The No. 6 Beavers defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 7-3 Tuesday night in a midweek matchup at Goss Stadium, riding the heart of the order and more solid pitching to yet another win in Corvallis.

It was OSU’s 10th consecutive victory, with the last nine coming at home.

And much like the eight that came before it, stellar pitching ruled the night. The Beavers (16-3) opened with seven no-hit innings, as Kellan Oakes, Laif Palmer, James DeCremer and Wyatt Queen breezed through the first 24 batters with little resistance. It was the second time in the last three games the Beavers have flirted with a no-hitter — Dax Whitney and Zach Edwards combined to toss 6 1/3 no-hit innings on Saturday.

Tuesday’s bid disappeared in the top of the eighth inning, when Queen allowed a leadoff infield single. And the shutout evaporated a few batters later, when Queen surrendered back-to-back walks and AJ Hutcheson balked in a run and allowed a two-run single.

Even so, it was another impressive pitching performance by a staff that has allowed three runs or less in eight of the last nine games.

It didn’t hurt that the Oregon State offense provided a nice early cushion, using a four-run third and two-run fourth to stake a 6-0 lead.

The first barrage of runs came via a two-out rally, which began with back-to-back walks from Jacob Krieg and Easton Talt. Shortstop Aiva Arquette followed with a two-run double to right-center field, one-hopping a rocket off the wall, to bring Krieg and Talt home with the first runs of the night.

Trent Caraway kept things going with a run-scoring single up the middle and, three batters later — after a Gavin Turley single and Tyce Peterson walk — Wilson Weber drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Beavers a 4-0 lead. They sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning.

Caraway delivered two more runs in the fourth, lacing a bases-loaded double down the left field line to push the lead to 6-0.

The heart of the order did most of the damage for the Beavers on Tuesday, as No. 3 hitter Caraway finished 2 for 4 with a double and three RBIs and No. 2 hitter Arquette went 2 for 5 with two RBIs. Talt, who replaced Caraway at the top of the order for the first time this season, added an RBI double, two runs scored and two walks in a successful debut in the leadoff spot.

Oakes, who tossed five scoreless innings in a midweek win over Washington State last week, was pulled after just three innings and 39 pitches against Rutgers (9-12). He hit two batters and recorded three strikeouts, before giving way to Palmer and the bullpen.

Palmer (1-0) finished with two strikeouts and one walk in two innings to earn the win, helping polish off a wildly successful homestand, during which Oregon State defeated five teams by a combined score of 61-17.

Next up: The Beavers open a three-game series at the Cal Poly Mustangs on Friday at 6 p.m. in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.bsky.social | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.