Beavers hope to make a pitch for another national championship

Sophomore Dax Whitney comes into the 2026 season with preseason first-team All-American recognition (courtesy Dom Cusimano)

CORVALLIS — Nobody is going to undersell Oregon State’s chance to make a repeat performance in Omaha in 2026.

Nobody in Beaver gear, at least.

“We talk about it every day in practice,” sophomore pitcher Dax Whitney, a first-team preseason All-American on multiple websites, said Wednesday at Goss Stadium. “After practice, we break on ‘Natty.’ Everybody knows that is what we are striving for, and we are not going to accept anything less.”

Natty, for the unenlightened, is slang for national championship. After ousting Florida State in the Super Regional to make the College World Series for the seventh time since 2005, the Beavers beat Louisville 4-3 in their opener, then fell to Coastal Carolina 6-2 and Louisville 7-6 to eliminate them from contention for college baseball’s top prize.

“It was a great experience to get there,” outfielder Easton Talt said. “But we want to get back to Omaha and win it all this year.”

Losses of position players from last year’s 48-16 team were heavy, with shortstop Aiva Arquette, outfielders Gavin Turley, Canon Reeder and Dallas Macias and catcher Wilson Weber signing pro contracts and third baseman Trent Caraway (LSU), infielder Jabin Trosky and outfielder Tyce Peterson (both San Diego State) and outfielder Carson McEntire (Arizona) slipping away via the transfer portal.

The only returning starters as position players are seniors: infielder AJ Singer, a national Gold Glove winner at second base last season but likely ticketed for shortstop; 6-5, 270-pound first baseman Jacob Krieg, who swatted 14 homers in ’25, and right-fielder Talt, who could move over to center this season.

But the return of the regular starting rotation of Whitney, Ethan Kleinschmit and Eric Segura to go with a bountiful batch of other returnees and acquisitions through the portal has baseball websites proclaiming the Beavers owning one of the top pitching staffs in the country.

Junior Ethan Kleinschmit was teammates with Dax Whitney on a Team USA trip to Japan last summer (courtesy Dom Cusimano)

“The depth on our pitching staff is well-known,” says Mitch Canham, beginning his seventh season as Oregon State’s head coach. “Top to bottom, I love what those guys are doing.”

“I am excited to get going, to start competing, to begin to show what we can do,” pitching coach Rich Dorman says. “It all starts with starting pitching. I like where we are at with that. We have some depth there. It is a matter of going out and doing it.”

Whitney, a 6-5 right-hander, was the ace of the staff and a consensus Freshman All-American last season, going 6-3 with a 3.40 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 76 2/3 innings. He has added 10 pounds to his 6-5 frame and is now at 215.

“Spent a lot of time in the weight room, focused on the body and the diet,” the Blackfoot, Idaho, native says. “Feeling a lot stronger in my legs. I have more endurance now.”

Whitney says batters can expect an improved slider from him this season.

“Last year, I had more of a traditional sweeper,” he says. “This year, it will be a harder, tighter slider.”

Preseason All-America recognition “is a cool honor, but it is just someone else’s opinion of what they think is going to happen,” Whitney says. ''You have to go out there and prove it.”

When a reporter suggests that beating him might make an opponent’s year, Whitney smiles.

“If it makes their year to have success against me, I want to ruin their year,” he says. “I treat every opponent the same. I go out there and expect to dominate them every pitch.”

The Dean of Portland Sports is now on BlueSky.

Kleinschmit, a 6-3, 205-pound junior, was 8-5 with a 3.56 ERA, 113 strikeouts in 91 innings and a .194 opponents batting average after transferring from Linn-Benton CC last season. The southpaw from Mount Angel has gained second- and third-team Preseason All-America mention this winter. He says he has worked hard on getting his off-speed pitch “sharper, more consistent.”

“The slider was pretty good for me last year, but dialing in the changeup and just getting better overall is what I am looking for,” he says.

Whitney and Kleinschmit were teammates on Team USA’s trip to Japan for a five-game series last summer.

“Ethan and I are super tight knit,” Whitney says. “We have done lots of cool things together. We understand each other well, what each other needs to be successful. We are not always pitching with each other; we are pitching against each other. It is having that competitive edge to talk about our pitches and things like that. We play catch every day. We see it as an opportunity to make each other better.”

Whitney and Kleinschmit were shut down during fall ball for rest. They were sharp in their first live action of the winter.

“Dax faced five people and struck out all five,” Talt says.

“I was in that group of five,” Krieg says. “Unfortunately, I had to face Dax my first at-bat back (from winter break). To see his growth from last year is unreal. He is going to have a really good year.”

The Sunday starter, Eric Segura, came out of the bullpen until near the end of last season. The 6-2, 215-pound junior right-hander, who made five starts, was 8-2 with a 4.63 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings.

“Those three look really good,” Dorman says. “Wyatt Queen looks really good, too.”

Queen, a 6-2, 215-pound right-hander, was 3-1 in five starts and 21 appearances last season, sporting a 3.21 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings.

Dorman also mentioned 6-3, 235-pound sophomore Zach Kmatz (2-0, 4.05 ERA in 26 2/3 innings and 18 appearances in ’25); transfer Noah Scott, a 6-4, 240-pound junior right-hander from Iowa Western, and Mason Pike, a 5-11, 210-pound freshman right-hander from Puyallup, Wash., as potential mid-week starters.

Pike and sophomore Adam Haight are the two two-way players for the Beavers. Dorman says Pike is focusing primarily on pitching for now.

“Being a two-way guy is an extremely difficult role,” Canham says. “Mase has been doing his best to handle both. Sometimes that requires the routine that goes with being a pitcher and learning how to throw bullpens, being part of the community a pitching staff has, and the identity he carries.

“He is refining his stuff. The stuff is really good, and now it is just learning how to use it in different situations. It is electric, with a sharp breaking ball that moves all over the place. He is learning to command it.”

Haight, meanwhile, is focusing on winning a spot in the outfield. The 6-2, 200-pound Snohomish, Wash., native played sparingly as a freshman last year. But he has caught the eye of his coaches this winter.

“Adam can play all three (outfield positions),” Canham says. “He has the want to get the ball, he has the speed, he’s got a good bat. He has made huge jumps. The guy is going to be a real threat this year.”

Dorman likes his depth at closer, with 5-11, 190-pound side-winding senior right-hander AJ Hutcheson (3-0, 4.28 ERA in 48 2/3 innings and 24 games, with three saves in ’25); 5-11, 220-pound senior right-handed transfers Albert Roblez (Long Beach State) and 6-6, 255-pound Isaac Yeager (Washington); 6-2, 230-pound fireballing sophomore Zach Edwards (1-0, 5.79 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings in ’25) and Kmatz as candidates.

Asked about freshman arms, Dorman first mentions a pair of left-handers — 6-2, 250-pound Trey Morris from Easton, Calif., and 5-10, 200-pound Calvin Gregory out of Lakeridge High.

“Trey attacks, has a solid approach, comes at you,” Dorman says. “I love what I’ve seen early out of him. Calvin hasn’t pitched in over a year with an assortment of injuries, but his stuff is there.”

Dorman also hopes fireballing right-hander Jack Giordano, a sophomore transfer from San Diego, makes the transition from catcher to pitcher effectively this season.

The Beavers expect to carry 19 pitchers, including Pike, among the 35 or so players who will suit up when they open the season with their traditional trip to Surprise, Ariz., for four games from Feb. 13-16.

“Everyone is trying to get their roles right now, but it’s good that we have so many high-level pitchers that we can feed off each other and learn from each other,” Kleinschmit says. “We are all competitors. A lot of us have nasty stuff and we can succeed with that. But a lot of it is how competitive we are and how bad we want to win.”

Whitney talks along the same lines.

“The thing that makes our staff so dangerous is the competitive nature,” he says. “I have never seen a more competitive staff from top to bottom. We compete in practice every day. When you see us scrimmaging, there is a real presence on the mound. We are attacking hitters every pitch. There is no doubt the guy on the mound wants it more than the hitter. We have a higher expectation.

“It is not putting pressure on anybody. It is more a confidence thing. We have a lot of new guys who are key pieces who are older and experienced. They are all bringing things that they did well at other schools.”

When I ask Dorman how the current staff compares to the one in 2021 that featured starters Cooper Hjerpe, Jake Pfennigs, Kevin Abel and Will Frisch and relievers Bryant Salgado, Brock Townsend, Mitchell Verburg, Jake Mulholland and Jack Washburn, he replied, “This one’s up there. The character of the group, the toughness — it is a really good group. They care about each other. They want to be great. And there are a lot of them.”

There are a lot of catchers, too, though sophomore Martin Serrano, who took part in fall ball, has transferred to Iowa Western CC. Senior Bryce Hubbard, last year’s backup to starter Wilson Weber, is getting a challenge from senior transfer Jacob Galloway (Texas A&M) and redshirt freshman Ryan VandenBrink.

“I value the energy the group is bringing,” says Canham, himself a former All-America backstop for the 2006 and ’07 College World Series champion Beavers. “I really like what all of them are doing with the bat, receiving, communicating. Hubby and Galloway have solid bats. Hub has some ability to run the ball out of the yard. Both are really tough outs and get on base. I trust they are going to win a lot of at-bats from the left side.”

Says Talt about Galloway: “He’s a gamer. He never strikes out.”

The 6-1, 240-pound VandenBrink was Oregon Class 6A Player of the Year as a senior at West Linn in 2024. He is a physical specimen.

“I don’t know if we have enough weight to put on the bar in the weight room for him,” Canham says. “He has made huge jumps in his game, too.”

The infield, in Canham’s words, “is very diverse.” By that, he means the candidates can all play multiple positions. Singer will likely be at shortstop but can play second or third base. Sophomore Paul Vasquez, who played sparingly last season, is getting a long look from coaches at third base. Transfers Tyler Inge (Michigan) and Cooper Vance (Eastern Michigan) have D-1 experience at shortstop. Bryson Glassco was second-team JC All-American and the conference player of the year at shortstop for Clackamas CC last season.

Krieg, 25 pounds of muscle added to his frame from a year ago, will be the regular at first base, backed by freshman Kameron Beck (South Jordan, Utah). Krieg will be trying to increase his batting average (.245) and cut down on his strikeouts (79 in 238 plate appearances) from last season.

Talt seems certain of claiming one outfield position. Haight will compete with the likes of transfers Jace Miller (Portland), Nyan Hayes (Grambling State) and Eli Gries-Smith (Arkansas-Pine Bluff) and freshmen Josh Proctor (Altadena, Calif.) and Ethan Porter (Huntington Beach, Calif.) for the other outfield spots.

Gone from the OSU roster are 82 of the 107 home runs swatted a year ago. The Beavers are hoping to make up for that in other ways.

“We have a completely different squad,” Talt says. “In past years, we had Bazz (Travis Bazzana), Aiva (Arquette) and Gavin (Turley) to hit the long ball. This year is going to be a more gritty squad — bunting, stealing bases, doubles.

“Beaver Nation is going to be excited to see the new offense. Pat Casey loved the small ball. This year, the team is excited to play small ball behind our pitching staff. We can win games 1-0. Hopefully it will be more like 10-0.”

Three weeks from Friday, the ’26 season opens against Michigan in Surprise.

“Surprise is one of my favorite series,” Krieg says. “All the Beaver fans come out. It feels like a home game. Electric atmosphere. It is a fun place to play at.”

“I am more excited than anything in the world,” Whitney says. “For the last three months, I have been thinking, ‘I am ready to play some more baseball.’ The countdown is coming.”

This will be the second of what is expected to be a two-year stint as an independent program.

Oregon State starts the season with 10 tournament games in Arizona and Texas. The road opener is March 3 against Oregon in Eugene (the teams also play on April 22 in Corvallis). The Beavers open at home with a four-game series vs. Xavier from March 6-9. They play 11 games on neutral fields — including a May 5 date with Portland in Hillsboro — 17 true road games and 27 at home, two more than a year ago.

What is this team’s big goal?

“Omaha is the easy answer,” Talt says. “Since we have been back after the winter break, ‘Skip’ (Canham) talks about ‘winning every day.’ If you win every day, you build those wins up. You are going to have month after month of winning days. So that is what we are trying to do. That is what it takes to be a national champion.”

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