Updated 2/23/2024 8:25 PM

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Beaver baseball has been coming to this desert town west of Phoenix — spring training hub of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals — to start the collegiate season for many years. With it, thousands of members of Beaver Nation make the trek south from the Northwest to get a little winter weather reprieve and watch Oregon State’s signature sports team in action.

When some Delta Tau Delta fraternity brothers asked me to join a group heading down for some sun and frolic, I thought, “Why not?” I’d never done it before — as a spectator, that is — and with the approval of my better half, I lined up a flight and pulled the trigger.

The partners in crime were Doug Crooks, Ken Eagon, Doug Oxsen and Bob Keith (the latter an SAE, but he fit in well enough). Crooks lined up a five-bedroom house through VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner), something he had not done before, but felt comfortable with. He had sent the company a check months before, and it had been cashed. We had reservations for a five-bedroom house in Surprise, about 15 minutes from Surprise Stadium, where the Beavers had four games scheduled in four days against New Mexico, Cal State Bakersfield and Minnesota (twice).

The group convened at Sky Harbor Airport. Eagon rented a Suburban and off we went for the 45-minute trip to Surprise, which was one square mile of farm land when Flora Mae Statler founded it in 1938 (but you knew that).

We pulled into the driveway of our soon-to-be-home for five days in late afternoon on Thursday Feb. 15. Eagon called dibs on the master bedroom since his wife was arriving on Sunday night. Keith wanted to arm-wrestle him for it, but since Ken was our driver, we took his side.

We walked into the house — nice place — but immediately noticed it wasn’t clean. In fact, it was kind of dirty. And there was food out on the counter. And clothes and shoes around the house. A hard hat — hard hat? — in the bathroom.

“Something’s rotten in Denmark,” Eagon said, and it was that way in Surprise, too.

Somebody — several somebodies — seemed to be living there.

We decided to exit the place. Once outside, Crooks got on the phone and called the property manager.

No answer. Uh oh.

I noticed a neighbor across the street eyeballing us. We walked over to speak with him. Marcos told us that a group of construction workers had been renting the house for at least a couple of months. He knew the property manager. We asked Marcos to call him. He did, and the dude answered (what?). After a short conversation, Marcos asked him to call Crooks. After a few minutes, no call. Crooks called him. The dude answered.

Doug’s blood pressure rose through the conversation. The company that manages for VRBO, the property manager said, is called “Evolve.”

“I canceled with that company months ago,” the property manager told Crooks.

“Your property has been rented to us,” Crooks told him. “We paid for it in full. This has to be solved. We don’t have a place to stay tonight.”

“That’s going to be your problem,” the property manager said.

“No, it’s your problem,” Crooks said firmly. “And you are going to fix it. Get on the phone with Evolve.”

After a minute, the property manager said, “I’ll call them.”

We piled into the Suburban and headed to a Chipotle for a quick dinner.

“Good thing we got out of the house before the inhabitants returned,” Eagon observed. “We might be dead.”

I started calling area hotels to see if there were any vacancies. No for the first three. The Hampton Inn could get us in at a rather hefty price. We took it.

In the meantime, Evolve’s representative had gotten back quickly to Crooks, who explained the situation. She was understanding and apologetic.

“The property somehow got double-booked,” she said. “It’s our problem. We are going to find a resolution for you.”

Within an hour, the Evolve rep got back to Crooks, telling him we had a new five-bedroom house that would be available immediately. He told her we had already booked rooms at a hotel and that we would like to be reimbursed. She said she would get back to us on that.

We wound up with nice rooms at Hampton, where coincidentally the Beavers’ team was staying. A quick hello to Coach Mitch Canham and second baseman Travis Bazzana — still in the dining room finishing a meal — and we were off to bed, feeling fortunate to have a place to stay for the night.

FRIDAY

The Beavers — ranked between fifth and 10th in the national polls — ran roughshod on New Mexico in the opener, winning 15-6. A seven-run fourth inning provided an 11-1 lead, and the Beavers boat-raced the Lobos to the finish before a sun-splashed crowd of 3,211 that featured probably 3,000 fans rooting for the Orange and Black.

Oregon State had 17 hits and blasted seven homers — two by DH Tyce Peterson — and four doubles. Jason Krieg, a 6-5, 240-pound sophomore first baseman, came off the bench for the longest clout over the center-field fence. Gavin Turley went 2 for 4 with a three-run double. Peterson, center fielder Micah McDowell and freshman third baseman Trent Caraway all went 3 for 4 and Bazzana was 2 for 5.

Caraway, a treasured recruit from Dana Point, Calif., began his college career with a homer to left and also made a scintillating play at third, grabbing a swinging bunt barehanded and throwing the runner out at first.

Right-hander Aiden May was not bad in his Beaver debut on the mound. The junior transfer from Arizona went 5 1/3 innings, yielding four hits and one run with two walks and four strikeouts. His fastball was live — in the low 90s and topping out at 95. Four OSU pitchers struck out 10 but walked six.

On a personal front, Crooks got word from the Evolve rep that our hotel bills from the previous night would be taken care of. “That’s a company that backs its product — impressive,” he said.

We met up with several other fraternity brothers at the game along with old friend “Rootin’ Tootin’ ” Rick Coutin, the former rally squad guy at OSU most well-known for getting tripped by ex-Ducks coach Dick Harter while parading the Chancellor’s Trophy around Gill Coliseum during a Beaver victory a half-century ago.

Amazingly, Coutin told us he had a similar experience to ours as he checked into his hotel room for the first time in Surprise on Thursday night.

“I unlocked the door to my room, walked in and heard something,” Coutin said. “There was a guy in bed. He pulled the sheets off and popped up, surprised and all groggy. He didn’t know what was going on. Neither did I. I could see there was a woman in there, too. I told him, ‘Sorry,’ shut the door and went back to the front desk.”

The service agent told Coutin she couldn’t understand how it happened.

“Her records showed the room was reserved to me,” he said. “She was embarrassed. Somehow they double-booked the room. I’ve never had that happen before. What a mistake — crazy.”

The attendant found another room for Coutin and his son Jered — on the same floor, about three doors down from the other room.

“I thought about knocking on the door as we went by,” Coutin said with a chuckle, “but I decided not to. Probably better to let sleeping dogs lie.”

After dinner and drinks, our five-man group was on to our new abode in Glendale, a 25-minute drive from the stadium. “Better knock first,” Eagon warned as we approached the front door. Nobody was inside. Things were looking up.

The entire gang then convened at a sports bar to watch the Oregon State women knock off UCLA at Gill Coliseum. The guys marveled at Talia von Oelhoffen’s poise in sinking the game-winning 3 at the buzzer. Cold blooded assassin!

SATURDAY

Oregon State used a five-run third inning to take a 6-0 lead, then held on for a 6-4 win over Minnesota as the weekend’s largest crowd — 3,880 — looked on.

The Beavers totaled nine hits with home runs by Caraway and right fielder Brady Kasper, the latter a three-run shot. Bazzana went 3 for 4 and Caraway and first baseman Mason Guerra each had a pair of hits.

Jason Kmatz gave up no runs but lasted only three innings in his start. The junior right-hander struggled with control, allowing two hits but also four walks. OSU pitchers struck out 10 batters but walked 12.

SUNDAY

The Beavers rolled to a 15-2 triumph over Cal State Bakersfield in front of 2,604, but the score was misleading.

The score was 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh when Bazzana stepped to the plate with two runners on and two out. The Aussie ripped a shot that cleared not just the right-field fence but also the berm behind it. It’s 350 feet down the line, so it must have been something like a 425-foot blast. Some kind of power stroke.

The Beavers scored seven in the seventh and six in the eighth. They piled up 13 hits and eight walks. Five of the safeties were homers — two each by Bazzana and Turley and one by shortstop Elijah Hainline, the junior transfer from Washington State. One of Turley’s round-trippers is a grand slam after Bazzana’s homer in the seventh.

Eric Segura looked impressive in his college debut. The freshman right-hander from Soledad, Calif., went five innings, allowing six hits and two runs with no walks and four strikeouts, hitting as high as 94 on the radar gun. The staff pitching performance was a stark difference from that of Saturday; Segura and relievers Bridger Holmes and Joey Mundt combined for no walks with eight Ks.

On the other side was Kellen O’Connor, a junior from Beaverton High. The crafty southpaw held Beaver bats in check through six innings, allowing four hits with two walks, two hit by pitch and five strikeouts.

Our fraternity group met at Rio Mirage Restaurant for a hearty post-game dinner of Mexican food with margaritas. “I’m buying,” said Oxsen to his appreciative friends. But the big fella was already out the door when the bill arrived. Irse de juerga!

MONDAY

The bats were quieter on Oregon State’s final day in Surprise, but the pitching stepped up in a 6-1 win over Minnesota with 2,057 looking on.

The Beavers got eight hits — two each by Bazzana and Caraway — and no home runs.

Starter Jaren Hunter struggled with command, with three walks and two hit by pitch in just four innings. The senior right-hander gave up three hits and a run, but the bullpen — Kellan Oakes, Tephen Montgomery, Drew Talavs and AJ Hutcheson — collectively yielded only one hit with no walks and no runs over the last five innings.

Caraway made a stellar one-handed grab and throw of a bunt for a put-out at first and also gunned down a runner on a hard-hit deep ball with a great throw. Kid looks like he can play third base.

Beaver fans exited Surprise Stadium satisfied with the record, the performance and the entertainment value provided by their team in what will be an emotional farewell season in the Pac-12.

As for our fraternity group? “Let’s do this again next year,” Eagon said. Nobody disagreed.

Final observations: Oregon State torched pitching staffs of the three opposing programs by hitting .351 with 17 home runs in the four games at Surprise. Opponents batted .221. OSU pitching boasts a 1.75 ERA; opponents are at 11.53. … It’s not always going to be that easy. The next four games, beginning Wednesday, are against formidable opponents at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas — Texas Tech, Arkansas, Michigan and Oklahoma State. In the latest Baseball America poll, Arkansas is ranked No. 3, Oregon State No. 4 and Texas Tech No. 17. … Six of OSU’s nine regular position players were hitting .400 or better after the first week of play. Bazzana, the Pac-12 Player of the Week, leads with a .563 batting average (9-16) to go with three homers, seven RBIs and six runs. Caraway is next at .500 (8-16), followed by McDowell at .462, Peterson at .429, Kasper at .417 and Tanner Smith at .400. Turley is hitting .286 but has two homers and a team-high nine RBIs. … the 6-2, 200-pound Caraway looks like a potential star both at the plate and in the field. … Haimline’s only hit in 11 official at-bats was his homer against Bakersfield. He walked four times, though, and came out of the series with a .364 on-base percentage. … pitching coach Rich Dorman used 13 relievers in the four games. All gave credible performances save for sophomore Tyler Mejia, who was touched for three hits and five runs — though only one was earned — and a walk in two-thirds of an inning against New Mexico. Talavs, Ferguson, Hutcheson, Holmes and Montgomery had the most impressive outings. Sophomore Nelson Keljo allowed three hits and a run in 1 2/3 innings against the Gophers on Saturday, but his fastball was electric, touching 96 mph on the radar gun as he struck out three batters.

Postscript: The Beavers had their way with Texas Tech on Wednesday, claiming a 10-4 win to improve to 5-0 for the season.

BONUS BAZZANA: Quotes from the Beavers’ All-American second baseman — who is projected by sportsnaut.com to be the No. 4 pick in the June MLB draft — from an interview we did before the season opener:

On his experience playing in the Cape Cod Summer League, where he led the league in batting while playing for Falmouth: “It was awesome. I was around such good people. It’s such a beautiful place — the beach, great weather, good food, playing every day against quality competition with lots of fans. It’s just a great environment as a whole. I learned a lot. I built a lot of good friendships and relationships. It helped me a lot as a player.”

On winning Cape Cod’s Most Valuable Player Award: “That was great, considering how special that league is in terms of history and players who have been through the league. To have my name go into those books is pretty cool to see. It’s one of those accolades that keeps you pushing forward. You really cherish it.”

On his time working out at Driveline Baseball’s facility in Kent, Wash., following Cape Cod’s season: “I spent almost three weeks there to reassess and do some more training. I enjoy working out there. They have a lot of good coaches and mentors who help me out. Whenever I get a chance to get up there, I take the chance. Then we reported to Corvallis in early September to get ready for Fall Ball.”

On whether he plans to get his college degree, despite the likelihood he’ll be playing pro baseball by this summer: “Yes. I’m a junior majoring in psychology. It won’t happen this year, but I’m definitely going to graduate. I’ll get my degree on-line in a couple of years.”

On living with teammates Brady Kasper, Micah McDowell and Elijah Hainline in a rented house in Corvallis: “We get along good, and we behave most of the time.”

On the thought from some scouts that he might wind up as an outfielder in the pro ranks: “I try to make the most of my value as an infielder. I think I can do it at a high level. I will play wherever it’s going to work out, but I think I can play a quality second base. I’m going to continue to put the time into that. I know there’s some doubt here and there on the pro side, but I’m athletic and coordinated enough that I can keep making strides on that front and be really solid out there defensively.”

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