Trent Sellers shuts down former team with ‘phenomenal’ start, leads Oregon State Beavers to win over Washington State

Of all the emotions Oregon State Beavers’ ace Trent Sellers confronted Friday night as he prepared to face his old team and a few “frenemies,” there was one sensation that caught him by surprise.

“It really made me feel old,” he said, laughing.

But old never felt so good.

Sellers had his best performance in an Oregon State uniform and the No. 25 Beavers continued their mastery over Washington State, defeating the Cougars 5-1 in the opener of a three-game series at Goss Stadium.

Sellers was magnificent Friday, tossing six dominant innings to carry Oregon State (11-2) to a businesslike victory in its Pac-12 opener. The 6-foot-2 right-hander allowed just one run on three hits, while striking out nine, as he stymied Cougars hitters by working ahead in the count and throwing three pitches for strikes.

Afterward, it was hard to determine what made the performance most special for Sellers — that he propelled the Beavers to a win in their Pac-12 opener or that he did it against Washington State (11-2). Sellers started his college career in Pullman in 2019, making 16 relief appearances for the Cougars as a freshman. But when coach Marty Lees was fired after the season, Sellers left the school and eventually landed at Lewis-Clark State College, where he went 22-1 with a 2.38 ERA and 217 strikeouts in two seasons.

Fast-forward to Friday night and Sellers’ baseball journey had come full circle, with a key series-opening start against his former team.

Sellers started strong, retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced, and ended stronger, striking out Greg Fuchs — the former Oregon State utility player — on three pitches with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning. Along the way, Sellers threw 18 first-pitch strikes and kept the Cougars off-balance by mixing his low-90s fastball with a commanding changeup and effective curveball. It was a far cry from his last outing, when Sellers lacked a feel for his fastball and tried to be too cute, walking five and lasting just three innings during a no-decision at Cal Poly.

In the aftermath of that disappointing start, Sellers heard a consistent message from pitching coach Rich Dorman and OSU’s coaching staff: fill up the strike zone, attack hitters and let the Beavers’ defense help.

By the third inning Friday, it was clear the message had landed. After back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, which included a pair of groundouts in the third, second baseman Travis Bazzana announced in the Oregon State dugout that “Playing defense is fun right now because you look at the scoreboard and, before you know it, we have two outs.”

Sellers, who threw a season-high six innings, improved his record to 2-1, lowered his ERA to 1.56 and now leads the Pac-12 in strikeouts with 35.

“It’s the best I felt so far this season,” he said.

“He was phenomenal,” added third baseman Mikey Kane.

Kane wasn’t too shabby either. He went 2 for 4, which included a two-run double down the left-field line in the third inning that gave the Beavers a 4-0 lead. Oregon State scored its first run on a wild pitch in the second, plated another in the second thanks to a Ruben Cedillo one-out double, then added an unearned run in the fifth.

Micah McDowell finished 2 for 3 with a run scored and a double, Garret Forrester went 1 for 4 with two runs and Bazzana finished 1 for 2 with a walk, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.

But it was Sellers’ bounce-back performance that lifted the Beavers — who have won five consecutive series against the Cougars and own a 25-8-1 record against them in the last 34 meetings — to a win in their conference opener.

“He went out there and carved,” Kane said. “That’s what we expect from him and that’s what he did.”

Next up: The teams play Game 2 of the three-game series at 1:35 p.m. Saturday at Goss Stadium.

— Joe Freeman reported from Corvallis.

— jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.

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