Baylor Silenced by Whitney’s 17-K Masterpiece, Falls 3–1 to No. 11 Oregon State

ROUND ROCK, Texas – Baylor baseball (4-1) posted its first loss of the young season in a low-scoring affair, 3-1, to No. 11 Oregon State (4-1) in the opener of the Round Rock Classic on Friday evening at Dell Diamond.

Three different Baylor pitchers — Stefan Stahl (Sr.), Brayden Bergman (RFr.) and Zack Wallace (So.) — were phenomenal for much of the contest, combining for eight punch-outs and allowing six hits across seven frames, but three free passes in the ninth inning and a two-run single off veteran righty Caleb Bunch (5Sr.) proved too costly to overcome.

Offensively, Baylor didn’t find any success against Oregon State’s starting pitcher, sophomore righty Dax Whitney, one of the top-rated prospects in the 2027 MLB Draft, and someone that head coach Mitch Thompson called “the best arm he’s ever seen.”

Whitney completely dominated Baylor’s lineup for seven innings, striking out a career-high 17 batters — a Round Rock Classic record — on 96 pitches while only allowing two base knocks, both of which came from the Bears' second baseman Pearson Riebock (So.).

“He was electric, as everyone in the park could see; we knew we were going to get a dog on the mound,” shortstop Travis Sanders (RJr.) said of Whitney post-game. “He could command his fastball, and he could command his offspeed as well. He kept us off balance, and he was special.”

Despite the Bears striking out a program-record 21 times in the contest and being out-hit by the Beavers, 9-to-3, the game was tied going into the top of the ninth inning, which is a good sign for this young Baylor team.

“This lights a fire under us; we knew the expectations coming into this game were high, and we knew we could compete with anybody,” Sanders said. “I think it’s good for us to go out there and compete against a really good arm, probably the best in the country. We know that going forward, we faced this guy and were in the game until the ninth.”

Stahl, the senior lefty, made a spot-start in place of the usual Friday-starter, Lucas Davenport (RJr.), who missed this week with “arm soreness.”

Stahl threw back-to-back perfect frames before running into trouble in the third inning when he allowed a lead-off double to Oregon State first baseman Jacob Krieg (Sr.). 

After a walk to put two runners aboard, Stahl navigated the Bears out of danger and closed the inning with an excellent defensive play, rushing off the mound to field a push bunt and tossing to Tyce Armstrong (RSr.) for the final out of the frame.

Stahl’s evening was finished after a career-long four scoreless innings, where he allowed two hits and struck out three Beavers on 50 pitches, 33 of which were strikes.

“Really thought Stefan threw the ball well early; he mixed his pitches, kept them off-balance, threw strikes,” Thompson said. “The pitching staff kept us in the game for sure, but Dax Whitney wasn’t giving any opportunities back.”

Right-handed pitcher Brayden Bergman (RFr.) made his first appearance of the season after redshirting last year, surrendering two hits and recording two outs; he consistently sat around 92 miles per hour on his fastball.

Wallace, the Rowan-Gloucester transfer righty, got the Bears out of the fifth-inning jam, but the Beavers got on the board in the sixth inning, 1-0. Oregon State had back-to-back hits to start the frame, and catcher Jacob Galloway (Sr.) later plated a run on an RBI sacrifice fly after he fouled off seven consecutive pitches against Wallace.

Wallace bounced back with a one-two-three frame in the seventh inning; he finished with five strikeouts and one earned run allowed across 2.1 innings.

Right fielder Hunter Snow (RFr.) had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh with one swing and sent a towering shot off Whitney to right field, but right fielder Easton Talt (Sr.) leaped above the wall and robbed the potential game-tying home run.

“I actually said in the dugout to Darin Thomas, both of us have been around the game for 30 years, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more dominant out there than this guy tonight,” Thompson said of Whitney. “The good news for us is that we won’t see anybody like the rest of the year. We’ll see some good ones, but it’ll be tough beat that. I tip my hat to him.”

With Whitney finally out of the contest, the Beavers went to their bullpen in the bottom of the eighth, and immediately beamed catcher JJ Kennett (Jr.) with a pitch.

With Bo Caraway (Fr.) pinch-running for Kennett, Sanders came up clutch and delivered a game-tying double into the right-center field gap.

Following the Sanders double, Armstrong reached base on catcher’s interference, and designated hitter John Youens (RSo.) took a five-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs, but right fielder Brady Janusek (Fr.) flew out to center field to end the frame.

After the Bears managed to tie the game in the eighth inning against the Beaver bullpen, Baylor gave back the lead in the ninth after Bunch walked the bases loaded and surrendered a two-run single to Talt.

Final: No. 11 Oregon State 3, Baylor 1

W: Isaac Yeager (2-1) L: Caleb Bunch (1-1) S: Albert Roblez (2)

POTG: Stefan Stahl (4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 3 K, 15 BF, 52 TP, 35 ST)

What’s Next

The Bears (4-1) will face Purdue (2-3) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21, in the next game of the Round Rock Classic at Dell Diamond. The game will be streamed on D1Baseball.com.