Saving the best for crunch time, the sixth-ranked Oregon State baseball team overtook Hawaii for a 3-1 victory at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Ore.
An announced crowd of 4,028 saw the Beavers sweep the three-game, interconference series to improve to 33-9, including 15-3 at Goss.
The Rainbow Warriors went 2-5 during this 11-day road trip. Despite the outcome, the ’Bows, idle from league play this week, moved into fifth place in the Big West. The ’Bows are 10-11 (.476), surpassing 11-13 Cal State Northridge (.458) for fifth. The top five teams qualify for the Big West Tournament.
OSU’s Nyan Hayes hit a two-run homer in the seventh and AJ Singer added a miscommunication-aided RBI double in the eighth for the Beavers.
UH starting pitcher Brody Martin-Grudzielanek pitched a one hitter through six innings. But he exited after hitting Paul Vasquez with one out in the seventh. By then, Martin-Grudzielanek had thrown a season-high 94 pitches. He allowed five fly balls the first two turns through the OSU lineup. The third time around, five of the six batters he faced hit the ball in the air.
“The pitch count was too high,” UH coach Rich Hill said of the freshman right-hander. “He never went that high in his life by a lot. Third time through the order, and he just hit a guy on a ball we called for a boxed fastball. It was definitely time.”
Hayes pulled a 1-0 pitch from Tsubasa Tomii over the fence in left field to give the Beavers a 2-1 lead.
“It was just a cutter, a middle cuter. Just couldn’t miss it,” Hayes said of his first home run of the season. “I like to find some barrel, try to get the ball into the gap, and have some fun from there.”
In a television interview, Hayes credited OSU hitting coach Ryan Gipson and the Beavers’ analytics team.
“Coach Gipson does a pretty good job of letting us know what we’re going to get in certain situations,” Hayes said. “I go out there and hunt that pitch he throws the most and go from there.”
It was the first homer Tomii allowed in 21 appearances in 2026.
In the OSU eighth, Bryson Glassco drew a one-out walk. One out later, Singer hit a fly ball that dropped between left fielder Draven Nushida and center fielder Kamana Nahaku as Glassco circled home with the Beavers’ third run.
“The field had nothing to do with the miscommunication,” Hill said. “That’s us. I need to be better and develop our guys and coach better and put them in position to make those plays.”
The ’Bows had challenges on the base paths. They were caught stealing twice. In the second inning, Christian Hoffman doubled home Jake Redding for a 1-0 lead. Hoffman then went to third on Taylor Takata’s single. After an OSU mound visit, Noah Rodriguez showed bunt but didn’t put one down. Catcher Jacob Galloway threw to first baseman Bryson Glassco as Takata was caught in a rundown. But Singer tagged out Takata for the third out before Hoffman could touch the plate.
“We haven’t done that enough in practice,” Hill said. “I take full responsibility for a runner not seeing the ball down or gets in his secondary lead. We haven’t done it enough. Our expectation is our guys are going to be able to put things in practice. We talked this morning about following the rules. That’s one of them. You see the bunt down before you extend.”
Third baseman Tate Shimao, who has endured a thumb ailment all season, was scratched from the starting lineup. He later entered as a defensive replacement.
“It felt like today was a day off (for Shimao) heading into the stretch run of the season, and get him as healthy as we can,” Hill said.
Following this Wednesday game against the Hawaii Hilo, the ’Bows close the regular season with nine Big West games.
“It’s all right in front of us,” Hill said. “We have to play better. It’s that point of the season when it’s winning time. Guys know their roles. We’ve been in enough chalk talks. It’s time to go out and do it.”
E—Vazquez. DP—Oregon State 2. LOB—Hawaii 2, Oregon State 5.