Oregon State baseball gets series off to hot start with Game 1 win over rival Oregon

CORVALLIS — Aiden May didn't need any extra motivation.

After a disastrous start at Cal last week, Oregon State's ace right-hander was well on his way to a bounce back outing against rival Oregon at Goss Stadium on Friday. May handcuffed the Ducks during the early portion of the evening and didn't surrender a hit until the fifth inning.

A controversial sequence in the middle innings, though, left May furious — and ultimately sparked the best outing of his career.

May struck out 14 batters and allowed just one hit over 8.0 innings to lead No. 9 Oregon State to a 2-0 win over No. 22 Oregon in Friday's series-opener. On his 114th pitch of the night, May struck out Justin Cassella to end the eighth before erupting into a fervent celebration as he strutted back to the OSU dugout.

"I was trying to keep it under wraps a little bit — I taunted (Oregon) a little bit," May said. "I was trying to keep it nice and easy. But of course something like that is going to fire me up — it's going to fire the crowd up. It's just kind of a perfect storm."

Oregon State baseball vs. rival Oregon series off to hot start

The catalyst for May's late-inning surge occurred prior to the start of the sixth inning when Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski requested the umpire crew check May's glove for a sticky substance. Essentially, Wasikowski implied that May was benefiting from an illegal advantage that enabled him to get a better grip on his off-speed pitches.

After the ensuing review, home plate umpire Mike Fichter concluded that May had not committed any sort of violation.

"They wanted to take a peek and see if (May) had anything going on," Oregon State coach Mitch Canham said. "Obviously (May's pitches were) nasty stuff. It's moving, it's sinking, it's sliding, it's riding, it's doing all that stuff. Sometimes that can get in people's heads. But we right after that he just said, 'Hey, my stuff must be pretty good if they want to come out and see what's going on.'"

Oregon State closer Bridger Holmes described the incident slightly more succinctly.

"That just pisses you off — especially when the coach does it," Holmes said. "It's Oregon, of course, so that adds a little bit more, too. Bad idea for them, in my opinion."

May struck out eight of the last 12 batters he faced: two in the sixth, two the seventh, and three in the eighth.

After May exited the game, Holmes came on in the ninth and retired the Ducks' 2-3-4 hitters — Chase Meggers, Jacob Walsh, and Anson Aroz — in order to slam the door and notch his ninth save of the season.

Friday served as a bounce back outing of sorts for Holmes, too, after he was hit hard during losses to Cal and Nevada last week. Prior to those games, he had not surrendered a run all year and struck out 27 batters throughout his first 20 innings.

"Everyone knows that (Holmes) is our guy to finish up games," Canham said. "He's electric. He's got phenomenal stuff. A couple of rough days, that doesn't make anyone panic. We know what he's capable of doing."

Oregon starter RJ Gordon produced a strong outing, too. In 6.0 innings, he held the Beavers to two runs on four hits and struck out nine. But two of those hits — solo home runs from Brady Kasper and Travis Bazzana — proved to be all the offense Oregon State needed.

Kasper got the Beavers on the board with a towering leadoff home run in the top of the second that carried 366 feet in the right field bleachers. That marks the third consecutive game that he has homered against the Ducks dating back to last season.

Two innings later, Bazzana added a leadoff dinger of his own when he sent a Gordon fastball 377 feet to left field.

May took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but it was broken up on Drew Smith's infield single.

"It's a rare outing when you get everything working. But it's special when it all comes together," May said. "I really wanted this; especially after last weekend, I felt like I didn't execute as well as I could have. So, I really prepped a lot for (Oregon). I had all the confidence in the world."

Oregon State vs. Oregon series continues with Game 2 Saturday

The Ducks and Beavers will continue their series at Goss Stadium at 6:05 p.m. Saturday in Game 2. (ESPN2).

Jacob Kmatz (5-1, 2.95 ERA) is expected to get the starting nod for Oregon State, while Grayson Grinsell (5-2, 4.05) is slated to start for Oregon.

Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon State baseball tops Oregon in Game 1 of Corvallis series