IRVINE, Calif. – Gavin Turley hit his sixth home run of the season but USC’s Brayden Dowd singled in the game-winning run with one out in the ninth inning as No. 2 Oregon State dropped a 2-1 decision to the Trojans at Cicerone Field Thursday night.
USC (10-15 overall, 5-5 Pac-12 Conference) put its first two runners on in the ninth via hit by pitches, then moved them over when Ryan Jackson executed a sacrifice bunt. Dowd then singled past Elijah Hainline at third for the game winner.
Turley hit a solo shot to straightaway center to tie the game at one in the seventh. He’s now homered in three straight.
OSU (21-3, 5-2) was otherwise stymied by USC’s staff, which limited the Beavers to four hits and seven walks.
Caden Aoki started for USC and came out after allowing Turley’s home run in the seventh. He scattered four hits and a run but did not figure in the decision. Neither did OSU starter Aiden May, whose lone run allowed in four innings of work was on a home run by Ethan Hedges in the fourth.
May struck out three and allowed two hits.
Josh Blum got the win for USC, improving to 2-0. He held OSU scoreless in the ninth, striking out two.
Kellan Oakes took the loss to drop to 3-1. The righty reliever allowed one hit and one run in the ninth.
Next Up
Oregon State and USC continue the three-game series Friday at 6:30 p.m. PT from UC Irvine’s Cicerone Field. USC will provide a live stream with the link available on osubeavers.com and the Pac-12 Now app.
Oregon State Notes
– Travis Bazzana flew out to center to open the game, snapping his four-game streak of hitting a home run to lead off the Beavers’ half of the first.
– Bazzana extended his hit streak to seven games by singling in the third inning.
– Aiden May has allowed five hits and a run with nine strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings since returning to the rotation in his start against Washington last week.
– Gavin Turley’s home run in the seventh inning marked the 20th of his career. He is six shy of tying former teammate Garret Forrester (2021-23) for 10th in a career at Oregon State.
– Turley has homered in three consecutive games.
– Bazzana walked twice, giving him 129 for his career. He’s 27 shy of equaling Forrester and Adley Rutschman (2017-19) for the most in a career at Oregon State.
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OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
