Gavin Turley got the offense going Friday night with a grand slam and top-seeded Oregon State cruised to a 10-4 win over Tulane in the Corvallis Regional at Goss Arena.
Turley’s bases-loaded fifth-inning homer to left-center field gave OSU its first lead of the game. The Beavers built from there, easily advancing in the winners’ bracket as pitchers Aiden May, Nelson Keljo and Bridger Holmes combined to hold Tulane to six hits.
With the win, Oregon State (43-14) faces UC Irvine, winner of a wild 13-12 decision over Nicholls State in the regional opener, at 7 p.m. Saturday. The winner of that game advances to the regional championship game. Saturday’s opener at 1 p.m. is an elimination game between Tulane (35-25) and Nicholls State.
With OSU trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, the first three Beavers batters reached base to set up Turley. The sophomore designated hitter sent the first pitch over the left-center field wall for his fifth grand slam of the season.
OSU added four more runs from there, including Travis Bazana’s 27th homer of the season.
Micah McDowell went 4-for-5 and drove in two, while Bazana, Dallas Macias and Trent Carraway each had two hits. The Beavers had 13 hits from four Tulane pitchers.
May (7-0) had an uneven outing, leaving after 5 2/3 innings with a 6-4 lead. He gave up six hits and struck out nine, but reached a season-high with four, leading a three-run second inning.
Keljo was excellent during his 2/3 inning performance, giving up one hit and striking out four. Holmes finished out the game, striking out the Green Wave’s final two batters.
Tulane batted first, scoring three runs in the top of the second. May had a wild run, walking three times and Connor Rasmussen hitting a timely hit, a two-run single that gave the Green Wave a 3-0 lead. The three-run margin didn’t last long, as Mason Guerra scored on a double in the bottom of the second to cut Tulane’s lead to 3-2.
The Beavers scored at least one run in the final four innings, starting with four grand slam hits in the fifth for Turley. McDowell’s sixth single drove in two runs to give OSU an 8-4 lead. In the seventh inning, Macias doubled and scored on a single for Carraway. Bazzana capped off the scoring with a solo homer to lead off the eighth.
Nick Daschell covers Oregon athletics, particularly football and basketball, and can be reached at 360-607-4824, [email protected] or @nikdashiel.
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