Oregon State Enters 2024 With National Championship Expectations

Image credit: Gavin Turley (Photo by John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Snow and ice covered the ground in Corvallis, Ore., in early January. The start of preseason practices was just around the corner for Oregon State, despite the winter weather.

It was not a day for baseball, at least outside. But Beavers coach Mitch Canham wasn’t worried. He knew his team was doing what it needed to keep sharp. It was what they had done throughout the summer and fall – ever since Oregon State’s 2023 season came to an end with a loss to LSU in the Baton Rouge Regional final.

“The vibe that I’ve received from everyone is, ‘Whatever you need me to do,’” Canham said. “No one has come to me and said, ‘I want to do this.’ It’s selfless. A will to win is the energy I’ve gotten from all the guys. Even now as there’s ice on the ground, I trust that the guys are out doing what they need to do to be prepared. They did it over Christmas break, they did it over the summer.

“It’s all about growth. They’re not about thinking about wins or not right now, it’s about getting better. The guys are very inquisitive.”

Oregon State enters 2024 as the Pac-12 favorites and ranked No. 5 in the Preseason Top 25. The Beavers are led by junior second baseman Travis Bazzana, a Preseason All-American and a candidate to be drafted first overall in July.

Those on-field credentials alone would be enough to make this a big season at Goss Stadium. But there’s also the bigger, looming issue in the background: this is the final season of this iteration of the Pac-12. At the end of this academic year, 10 of the 12 Pac-12 schools will leave the conference for the ACC (California and Stanford), the Big 12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) or the Big Ten (Oregon, Southern California, UCLA and Washington). Oregon State and Washington State will be the only schools remaining, a fact that has thrown their medium-term futures into the unknown.

The Pac-12 will be together for one more season, however. By virtue of the NCAA calendar, the conference’s final act will come on the baseball diamond. And the team best positioned to send the conference out in style is, fittingly, Oregon State.

The Beavers aren’t using the conference’s collapse as motivation for the season. Those kinds of forces are too far beyond their control. But, living in Corvallis, they’re certainly aware of the overall mood. So, consider the snub a little more fuel on their already roaring fire.

“You can see that Oregon State as a university is getting slept on,” senior righthander Jaren Hunter said. “We take pride in the program, and we’re excited to perform for the community and state.”

In the summer, a substantial earthquake hit college athletics. The Pac-12, a major conference that had stood for more than a century on the West Coast like a sequoia, was crumbling.

The finances of college sports in recent years have become built around TV contracts and the Pac-12 needed a new one. Its existing contract ended July 1, 2024, and USC and UCLA had already announced they would leave to join the Big Ten when it expired. Negotiations proved difficult for the conference and when talks broke down, so did what had become a shaky union. Colorado in late July announced it would return to the Big 12. On Aug. 4, Oregon and Washington stunned the conference with their decision to break off to join the Big Ten. In the wake of those moves, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah followed Colorado to the Big 12.  

The Pac-12 had become the Pac-4, with Cal, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington State remaining. After further maneuvering, Cal and Stanford on Sept. 1 secured invitations to the ACC, leaving only Oregon State and Washington State on the conference roll past the academic year.

The moves stunned people throughout college athletics and created anger and uncertainty at Oregon State and Washington State. Where would they play next year? Could the conference be rebuilt? Would they have to leave for the Mountain West or the American? There were a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

Canham has always valued keeping open lives of communication within his program. His philosophy is to talk about everything and, this fall, that included conference realignment.

“There’s no subject I avoid,” he said. “If it’s on my mind and I think it’s on their mind, I bring it up. if you think I know, tell me. If you think I don’t know, tell me twice.”

Canham wanted to keep the players looped into what he was being told. He wanted to hear their concerns. So, the Beavers talked about it. And talked about it. And talked about it. Eventually, Canham said, they got sick of it.

“They’re here to dominate on the field, in the weight room, in nutrition,” he said. “I’ve asked them many a time and they say it’s not a concern.”

Sophomore outfielder Gavin Turley said when the players did talk about it, they weren’t too concerned.

“There’s teams in the CWS not from Power Five conferences,” he said. “Guys get drafted out of non-Power Five schools. Guys like Jacob Wilson, Brooks Lee to say some names. Most kids aren’t afraid of that affecting us at all. If you’re good, you’re good.”

Oregon State received a bit more certainty in the last few months – but only a little. Its football team has a scheduling arrangement with the Mountain West for the next two years. The rest of its sports – excluding baseball – will play in the West Coast Conference for the next two years. The school carved out an exception for baseball in its deal with the WCC to allow it to play an independent schedule, at least for 2025.

What happens after that is unknown. The Athletic last week reported that the contract governing Oregon State and Washington State’s football deal with the Mountain West includes a financial structure for inviting some or all Mountain West teams to the Pac-12. But nothing at all is certain.

In that uncertainty, Canham sees opportunity.

“People say, ‘What are you going to do?’” Canham said. “I say, ‘What do mean? We’re going to keep working.’

“This doesn’t change how we hit, throw, eat, sleep, attack a baseball game. You just want to go out and win. It’s a lot of noise. That stuff will work its way out. If anything, it’s a great opportunity to show how strong we all can be. Hard things happen. Rather than mope about it or act like everything’s falling apart, take the high road. It’s a great opportunity to inspire people.”

The program holds a special place at Oregon State. The athletic department has won four team national championships. Three of them are in baseball (2006, 2007, 2018) and one is in cross country (1961). So, it’s no surprise that the Beaver fan base has embraced baseball like few others nationally.

Hunter grew up outside of Portland and remembers his first visit to Goss Stadium. He was eight years old in 2010 and Oregon State played a doubleheader against Long Beach State.

“I thought those guys were gods,” he said. “It’s crazy to think about it now because I looked up to them so much when I was younger. Now, I know me and my teammates can be that for those kids.”

Off the field, there’s been a lot of interest in Oregon State over the last six months and that’s only going to continue through the spring. But on the field, few teams will be able to match up with the Beavers on pure talent.

Bazzana leads the team offensively after hitting .374/.500/.622 with 11 home runs and 36 stolen bases as a sophomore. Seniors Brady Kasper (.304/.400/.558, 12 HR) and Micah McDowell (.342/.427/.509, 15 SB) bring experience to the outfield. Turley (.309/.438/.664, 14 HR) and first baseman Mason Guerra (.326/.414/.573, 12 HR) add thump to the lineup. Oregon State also added freshman third baseman Trent Caraway, one of the top prep players to make it to campus in the fall.

After averaging 8.1 runs per game last season, Oregon State has a deep, talented offense again this spring. Canham spent time in the offseason mocking up lineups and found the exercise difficult.

“We have a good problem to have, we have a lot of offense,” he said. “Not five guys, not even nine guys. It’s like, ‘How are we going to get this guy in the lineup?’”

Oregon State was hit with some tough injuries on the mound a season ago, thrusting some freshmen into key spots. That took a tool at times in 2023, but now gives the Beavers more depth. Hunter (1-1, 3.03) and righthander Jacob Kmatz (5-4, 4.71) are back in the rotation and Oregon State added righthander Aidan May from Arizona through the transfer portal. Finding the right mix in the bullpen will be critical after losing closer Ryan Brown in the draft, but there’s no shortage of options for Oregon State to turn to.

No matter where you look, the Beavers have a wealth of talent.

“This team is a special one,” Bazzana said. “We’re doing a good job of staying focused on process every day.

“We’re setting the expectations of being a national championship team and nothing short of that. The expectations are not extra pressure because it’s just about making an identity, putting in the work, being the best teammate you can.”

It was a noisy offseason around Oregon State. But the Beavers barely noticed. And now that the season is here, they’re ready to make some noise of their own.