Oregon State baseball (42-13-1) lives to see another day of the 2025 college baseball postseason, dodging elimination and sending TCU home with a 7-2 win over the Horned Frogs at Goss Stadium on Saturday, May 31.

“Outstanding response to yesterday, especially by our starting pitcher,” Beavers head coach Mitch Canham said, gesturing to freshman right-hander Dax Whitney. “This young man… (did) just an amazing job with his changeup today, as well as executing every pitch in the zone where he wanted it. It set the tone for our guys to go out there and compete today. Everyone showed up with electricity in their veins.”

Oregon State stays in the Corvallis Regional’s loser bracket and will face elimination the rest of the way, but, as Beavers head coach Mitch Canham put it, “Why play three when you can get five?”

The Beavers will play the loser of USC and Saint Mary’s Saturday night matchup Sunday afternoon.

Whitney (6-3), the highly-touted freshman right-hander, came out of the gate guns blazing and put on a show for six frames to earn the win. His four-pitch mix — an upper-90s fastball, a curve with nearly two feet of drop, as well as the new changeup and slider — dominated the Horned Frogs, recording the first six outs of the game on strikeouts and working four-scoreless innings out the gate.

Whitney credited his offense, who racked up all of its runs in the first three innings, for giving him plenty of leeway to pitch with.

“The boys are hot today,” Whitney said. “We’re going, we’ve got a lot of energy. (That) gives me a lot of confidence and makes my job easier. I can go out there and just pitch freely and loose and play my game.”

A three-run blast from Wilson Weber in the bottom of the first gave the Beavers a lead they never surrendered, driving in shortstop Aiva Arquette (who doubled) and outfielder Gavin Turley (who walked) with the swing. Weber’s homer made a dozen on the year for the senior and seventh in the month of May.

“I knew I was getting a heater or a slider,” Weber said. “Walking up to the plate and starting my on-deck routine, I took my helmet off, said a quick prayer — I asked for a homer there, which was pretty cool — and went up there walking with some confidence… Pulled it a little left of center, but it ended up working out fine.”

A second-inning solo homer from third baseman Trent Caraway was followed up by another solo shot from second baseman AJ Singer and a two-run blast by Tyce Peterson in the third. The Frogs’ pitching staff held the Beavers to just one hit over the next five frames, but the early production as well as Whitney’s performance and left-hander Nelson Keljo’s three-inning save protected the lead the rest of the way.

TCU’s only runs of the contest came on a fifth-inning homer from third baseman Isaac Cadena, with Whitney retiring the next six in order and exiting after his 104th pitch of the contest. His 12 strikeouts and pitch-count were both career-highs.

Out of the bullpen, Keljo allowed five baserunners to reach safely, letting up two hits and walking three, but logged four strikeouts of his own to stave off TCU and earn his second save since returning to the bullpen in early May.

The Beavers’ losers bracket matchup against either Saint Mary’s or USC is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 1 at Goss Stadium. Oregon State’s starting pitcher and a broadcast affiliate has yet to be announced at the time of publication.