No. 5 Oregon State baseball weekend primer: An Omaha tease, rotation changes and a look at Nebraska Cornhuskers

The

Oregon State

baseball team was cruising through Omaha inside a motorcoach Thursday, when coach

Mitch Canham

rose to deliver a surprising message.

“Here it is boys,” he shouted, pointing out of a window at Charles Schwab Field. “This will be our home in a few months.”

Charles Schwab Field is, of course, the site of the College World Series.

The fifth-ranked Beavers have not been bashful about their aspirations for the season, proclaiming 2025 to be

“Omaha or bust.”

So it was noteworthy that, as they made their way to Lincoln, Nebraska, for a three-game weekend series against the

Nebraska Cornhuskers

, those aspirations casually collided with reality.

“We all looked at it and had our moment to soak it in,” Canham said. “There was even a sign with the date of the College World Series — June 13th to June 23rd. So I said, ‘Let’s go ahead and make a note of that. Let’s make sure we’re playing in the game on June 23rd.‘”

Did Oregon State see a glimpse into its future? We won’t know for three more months, but the path to Omaha continues this weekend in Lincoln.

Below is a primer for this weekend’s series, which starts Friday at 5 p.m.:

(

Weekly trivia:

The Beavers enter the weekend with a 13-2 record in March, guaranteeing they will finish with a winning record in the month, which has become the norm in Corvallis. Can you name the last season OSU finished with a losing March? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

The week that was

The Beavers took two of three games from the Cal Poly Mustangs during their first true road series of the season at San Luis Obispo, California. After

winning the opener

4-1 to extend its winning streak to 11 games, OSU suffered a

rough 7-6 defeat

in Game 2, allowing four runs — including a two-run walk-off homer — in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Beavers rebounded in the finale, however, rolling to an

8-2 win

to clinch the series.

The polls

The Beavers’ series victory enhanced their national standing, nudging them inside the top 10 in all five major college baseball polls. This includes a No. 5 ranking in the

D1Baseball Top 25

, which The Oregonian/OregonLive uses for its rankings.

A look at the Cornhuskers

Nebraska entered the season with high expectations, ranked No. 24 nationally and picked to finish second in the Big Ten Conference. But the Cornhuskers have not lived up to the hype.

They were dealt a blow the first week of March, when coach Will Bolt announced that junior right-hander Mason McConnaughey —a preseason All-American who landed on the Golden Spikes Award watch list — would miss the rest of the season with an arm injury. Things have gone south from there.

Nebraska has limped to a 6-10 record in March, which has included a three-game sweep at UCLA and series losses to Washington and USC. The Cornhuskers are just 2-7 in Big Ten play.

The pitching staff has struggled to make up for the loss of McConnaughey, but the biggest issue for Nebraska has been its lackluster lineup. The Cornhuskers rank last in the Big Ten in batting average (.246), second-to-last in runs scored (129) and fourth-to-last in hits (198). Only two regulars — second baseman Devin Nunez (.319, three homers, 14 RBIs) and utility player Case Sanderson (.313, three doubles) — are hitting better than .300. Shortstop Dylan Carey leads the team in homers (four), doubles (seven), RBIs (22), total bases (44) and slugging percentage (.489).

Will Walsh, a 6-foot-4 senior left-hander, has replaced McConnaughey as the Cornhuskers’ Friday night starter. But he has lost all three of his starts in the new role, allowing 11 runs on 17 hits in 19 1/3 innings against Washington, UCLA and USC. He has overpowering stuff — Walsh recorded nine strikeouts and surrendered just three hits in seven innings against the Huskies and he has two shutouts — but he’s also allowed 26 hits in 32 1/3 innings this season.

The rest of the weekend rotation — Saturday starter Ty Horn (0-3, 6.83) and Sunday starter Jackson Brockett (0-2, 4.15) — is winless in 11 starts. The staff ERA is 5.22.

Injury sparks rotations changes

Eric Segura

is in and

Nelson Keljo

is out. For at least a week, anyway.

Keljo, the Beavers’ Friday night starter,

will miss at least one start

with an undisclosed injury. Coach

Mitch Canham

declined to offer specifics about the ailment Thursday night, but did say it’s not considered serious.

“None of us are concerned,” Canham told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “He had a little discomfort and so we paused on it. We’re just being overly cautious.”

The injury opens a door for Segura to make his first start of the season and Canham has penciled him in for Friday night. Freshman right-hander

Dax Whitney

and sophomore left-hander

Ethan Kleinschmit

will remain in their regular weekend rotation spots, starting Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

It made the most sense to plug Segura into the Friday night role — rather than elevate Whitney or Kleinschmit — because it keeps every OSU starter on the same weekly routine and schedule, Canham said.

Segura has pitched this season

in a “piggyback” role

alongside Keljo, so he’s used to throwing on Fridays. And he also has starting experience, having made 15 starts last season, and a strong body of work in 2025. Segura is 4-0 with a 3.18 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 17 innings.

“He threw a little over 70 (pitches) last week, so he’s built up to start,” Canham said. “His bullpens are on the same day (as Keljo), because we plan on him throwing Fridays. So everything just lines up right.”

Leadoff change going well

It’s only been five games since Canham shuffled the top of his lineup by moving

Easton Talt

into the leadoff spot. But early returns are encouraging.

The junior outfielder is hitting .421 with two home runs, one double, seven runs scored, three RBIs and five walks in the five games he’s manned the top of the order. He brings an eight-game hitting streak into the weekend.

After a solid 1 for 3 debut performance in the leadoff spot against Rutgers, Talt was a force in the Beavers’ series win at Cal Poly. He had three multi-hit performances, slugged homers in consecutive games and reached base nine times.

Since the move to the top of the lineup, Talt’s batting average has climbed .025 points to .327 and his slugging percentage has surged more than .100 points to .507. He leads the Beavers with a .540 on-base percentage.

Probable pitching matchups

Friday

: OSU RHP Eric Segura (4-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. LHP Will Walsh (2-4, 3.90)

Saturday

: OSU RHP Dax Whitney (2-2, 3.67) vs. RHP Ty Horn (0-3, 6.83)

Sunday

: OSU LHP Ethan Kleinschmit (4-1, 1.60) vs. LHP Jackson Brockett (0-2, 4.15)

Series history

This is the 12th meeting between the teams and first not played at a neutral site. Oregon State holds a 10-1 all-time advantage in the series, which includes an eight-game winning streak.

Trivia answer

A: 2003. The Beavers finished 6-7 that March and went on to finish with a 25-28 record, marking the last time they’ve ended a season with a losing record. Oregon State has finished with a winning March for 21 consecutive seasons (not counting COVID-shortened 2020) and Canham-coached teams have gone 59-26 in the month.

—

Joe Freeman

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jfreeman@oregonian.com

| 503-294-5183 |

@BlazerFreeman

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@freemanjoe.bsky.social

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