The Oregon State baseball team’s chase for a top eight national seed received an Iowa-sized boost Saturday.
Aiva Arquette homered, Canon Reeder hit a two-run double and Dax Whitney had his best outing in more than a month, propelling the 10th-ranked Beavers to a 5-1 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes before 6,270 at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa.
It was Oregon State’s second victory in as many days over Big Ten-leading Iowa, delivering a series win and setting up a chance for a sweep in Sunday’s finale. Also, the victory reinforced the Beavers’ standing in the RPI, solidifying their ranking at No. 6 with five regular season games remaining.
That it all came on the back of Whitney was an added bonus.
The 6-foot-5 freshman right-hander had his way with a lineup that entered the series leading the Big Ten in batting average (.307), earning his first win since March 29. Whitney (4-3) tossed six dominant innings, allowing just one run, three hits and finishing with 11 strikeouts, equaling his career-high.
Whitney retired the first nine Hawkeyes hitters and faced the minimum in four of his six innings, delivering a performance that was both efficient and electric. He opened with a pair of first-inning strikeouts, fanned the side in the third and ended his outing with a five-pitch strikeout in the sixth. In between, Whitney was overpowering, retiring the side in order in four of the first five innings, during which he allowed just two hits and recorded nine strikeouts.
But Whitney ran into trouble in the sixth, surrendering a leadoff walk, a one-out walk and, finally, a two-out, two-strike RBI single to cleanup hitter Caleb Wulf, which spoiled his shutout bid. But Whitney rebounded to strike out Daniel Rogers with an inning-ending 95 mph fastball to escape further trouble, departing with a 4-1 lead.
Nelson Keljo took over from there. The 6-3 junior left-hander, who had been the Beavers’ Friday night starter until last week, filled a “piggyback” role for the second consecutive Saturday alongside Whitney and earned his first save of the season. Keljo opened with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, during which he struck out the side, and worked out of jams in the eighth and ninth inning to close the door on Oregon State’s win.
Keljo worked three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, while recording five strikeouts.
Whitney and Keljo combined to strike out 16, tying the Beavers’ season-high.
Oregon State delivered all the offense it would need in the third inning, when it used a four-run outburst to build an early lead. Trent Caraway started the rally with a one-out walk and Arquette followed by belting a 1-2 pitch to deep left field, smashing his team-leading 17th home run of the season. Then, after Wilson Weber drew a two-out walk and Iowa starter Aaron Savary plunked AJ Singer, Reeder ripped a double down the left field line, extending the Beavers’ lead to 4-0.
The Beavers’ added an insurance run in the seventh, when Weber hit into a double play with the bases loaded, and Savary (7-1) was on the way to his first loss of the season.
Oregon State (37-12) finished with just six hits, but it was enough on a day Whitney and Nelson overpowered the Hawkeyes (32-17).
Whitney not only equaled his career-high in strikeouts (11), but also innings pitched (six), emphatically breaking out of a five-week funk. He had been 0-1 record in his last five starts, and his previous three — during which Whitney allowed 12 runs in 8 2/3 innings — were particularly rough.
But he was electric Sunday, fueling an important win that bolstered the Beavers’ chances of landing a top eight national seed and home-field advantage through the super regionals of the NCAA baseball tournament.
Next up: The Beavers and Hawkeyes finish their three-game series Sunday at Principal Park. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.
— Joe Freeman | [email protected] | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.bsky.social | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.