Dax Whitney Ties Oregon State Strikeout Record With 17 vs Baylor
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After a phenomenal first college campaign where he earned Freshman All-America Honors among other national recognition, Oregon State right-handed pitcher Dax Whitney added to his college resume on Friday evening.
In his second start of the 2026 season, Whitney struck out 17 batters as the Beavers beat the Baylor Bears 3-1 on the opening night of the Round Rock Classic.
With his performance, Whitney tied Oregon State's program record for strikeouts thrown in a single game. He becomes the third Beaver to throw 17 strikeouts in a game after Cooper Hjerpe did it in 2022 and Mason Smith did it in 1994.
Of the 96 pitches that the Blackfoot, Idaho native threw on Friday, 66 were strikes. He allowed one hit with one walk and one batter was hit by a pitch.
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The contest was an offensive stalemate through five innings. In the top of the sixth inning, Grambling State transfer Nyan Hayes singled through the left side of the infield, then was able to advance to third base with a Bryce Hubbard single. Jacob Galloway brought Hayes in with a sacrifice fly two batters later to put the Beavs up 1-0.
Oregon State held that lead until the bottom of the eighth. At the start of the inning, the Beavers made the call to replace Whitney with Noah Scott. In his first at-bat, Scott beaned Baylor's JJ Kennett, who was replaced by Bo Caraway as a pinch runner. Travis Sanders smacked a double to right center shortly thereafter, giving Caraway enough time to score from first and tie the game.
In the top of the ninth, Galloway was hit by a pitch, then advanced to third two following back-to-back walks with two outs. Easton Talt stepped up to the plate and hit a bases-loaded double to score Galloway as well as Brandon Inge to retake the lead for Oregon State.
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Albert Roblez took the mound in the bottom of the ninth to pick up the save and preserve the win with two strikeouts.
Though he faced just two batters in relief, Isaac Yeager got the winning decision, moving his record to 2-1 on the season.
Oregon State's overall record moves to 4-1 on the season. The Beavers' time at the Round Rock Classic continues on Saturday at 3 p.m. PT. D1Baseball.com will televise the Beavs' contest with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles of the Sun Belt Conference.
Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.
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