Electricity on the mound: Saint Mary's starting pitcher Dylan Delvecchio went for seven innings. He and reliever Daniel Guevara Castro combined for a total of 16 strikeouts and a pair of masterful performances. / Photo by Mark Ylen for AP
Gaels Shock the Country and Upset Eighth-Ranked Oregon State for First Ever NCAA Baseball Tournament Win
Saint Mary’s matches clutch offense with electric pitching performance to best the Beavers on their home field. Now the Gaels face USC on Saturday in the winners bracket.
Friday night on the national stage, Saint Mary's Baseball put together what was arguably their most complete team performance of the season to knock off top-seed and eighth-ranked Oregon State 6–4, for SMC’s first NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The mighty Gaels jumped out to a three-run lead in the first and then had a massive three-run homer from Brian Duroff in the seventh that proved to be the game winner. And all of this in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 4,000 people at Goss Stadium, the Beavers’ home field in Corvallis.
The storyline all season long has been the Gaels offense. But tonight, they got masterful performances on the mound from seniors Dylan Delvecchio and Daniel Guevara Castro, who combined for a season high 16 strikeouts. Delvecchio started and pitched into the seventh with an absolute gutsy performance, striking out a career high ten batters, allowing four runs off seven hits. Castro came in after a pair of base runners reached in the seventh and went on to strike out six of the seven batters he faced to earn his third save of the season.
Eddie Madrigal tied the program’s single-season hits record with a pair on the night to put him at 88 for the season. He tied the great Chris Koeper who had 88 hits during the 1991 season. Brian Duroff played hero for the Gaels offensively with a two-out line drive shot in the seventh for his ninth homer of the season and 20th of his career.
In addition to the victory over OSU marking Saint Mary’s first ever NCAA Regional win, it is also the Gaels’ first win over a top-ten opponent since defeating fourth-ranked Florida last season, 9–4. Saint Mary's now heads for the winners bracket of the tournament and will have the night game again on Saturday, May 31, with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. They will take on three-seed USC, their first matchup with the Trojans since 2011.
Gaels Leap out to a Lead
The Gaels got going early thanks to an RBI single from Ryan Pierce that scored first baseman Eddie Madrigal. To set the stage, Madrigal led the game off with an opposite field single and then got to second after a sacrifice bunt from Cody Kashimoto. Kashimoto leads the country with 23 sac bunts on the season.
Oregon State starter Eric Segura started to unravel a bit, as he hit two batters and walked in a run to contribute to the Gaels’ three-run first inning. Reliever AJ Hutcheson took over and got two big outs to leave the bases loaded—but not before Saint Mary's kicked things off in dramatic fashion.
Hutcheson would go on to complete five scoreless innings in relief to keep the Beavers within striking distance. On the flip side, for the Gaels, senior southpaw Dylan Delvecchio put together one the best outings of his career. Delvecchio has been the team's best pitcher over the last month of the season and has racked up four wins over his last five appearances to lead the team with a career high seven on the season. Delvecchio had terrific control of his pitches on Friday night; he consistently got ahead of batters and pitched backwards to keep the Oregon State offense off balance all night long.
His one mistake came in the third inning as he gave up a two-run home run from Oregon State’s Gavin Turley to make it a one-run ballgame. Rather than get rattled, Delvecchio responded as a solid veteran does: He went on to retire the next nine batters to get into the seventh inning and preserve the Gaels 3–2 lead.
Seventh Inning: Stretch the Lead
Saint Mary's knew they had to add some insurance, counting on the fact that the eighth-ranked team in the nation wouldn't be held to a pair of runs in their regional opener. That insurance came in the top of the seventh as Brian Duroff punished an 0–1 fastball that leaked over the inner half of the plate for his ninth home run of the season, giving the Gaels a 6–3 lead. The three-run blast sent the traveling Gaels fans into a frenzy. They could sense history in the making, with their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory just nine outs away.
Oregon State responded as expected with two runs in the bottom half of the seventh, thanks to a solo home run and a two-out triple. Delvecchio exited the game after the RBI triple, with Coach Eric Valenzuela bringing in Daniel Guevara Castro to strike out the next batter on three pitches to maintain a 6–4 lead with two innings to play.
Castro, a second year Gael, was absolutely electric: He went on to retire six of the next seven batters he faced with five strikeouts. And six of those seven outs in his relief appearance came way of the K—giving Castro his third save of the season.
In retrospect, the night seemed to brew up the perfect storm for Saint Mary's: they came into an intense environment in Corvallis with nothing to lose, and the Gaels got two of the best individual pitching performances of the season.
Looking Ahead
Along with making history with their first ever NCAA Tournament win, Friday night’s victory improves Saint Mary's record to 36–24 for the season. Their 36 wins are also the most in a single-season since 2017 when they won 37 games under current head coach Eric Valenzuela. The Gaels are now 1–2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games after going winless in their regional trip back in 2016.
The wild ride continues for the Gaels as they take on three-seed USC on Saturday night at 6 p.m. Links for television, live stats, and additional media information will be made available at smcgaels.com.
