The 24th-ranked Beavers (11-6) got pins from Thomas, redshirt sophomore Amarveer Dhesi (hwt) and redshirt freshman Corey Griego (184) in defeating the Broncos (3-9) for the fourth consecutive time, delighting a Gill Coliseum crowd of 1,013.
Redshirt sophomore Cody Crawford (197) added a technical fall and redshirt junior Joey Palmer (133) won by major decision as OSU compiled 12 bonus points in the convincing win. OSU is 6-1 in its last seven duals, with the only blemish a loss by criteria at CSU-Bakersfield when it did not field its regular starting lineup.
The Beavers honored Thomas, their lone senior, in a ceremony before the dual. He improved to 18-8, and made it a day to remember, by pinning Taylor West in 4:13. His seventh fall of the winter gave OSU an insurmountable 25-3 advantage.
"My whole family was here, that was pretty cool," said Thomas, cheered on by his parents, his brother, and numerous other supporters all sporting orange "Team Thomas" tee-shirts created by a family friend. "There were a lot of people here to support me who I didn't know were going to show up, that was pretty awesome.
"Getting the pin? It was just another match but obviously it was a pretty cool way to go out and to finish what I started here," in the final home dual of his career and OSU's last dual of the regular season.
It was the 50th edition of the interstate rivalry, which dates back to 1975. The Beavers (11-6, 3-2 Pac-12) upped their series lead to 32-17-1.
The match started at heavyweight and Dhesi got the Beavers rolling with a pin in 1:16. Sophomore Ronnie Bresser (125), Palmer (133) and redshirt sophomore Jack Hathaway (141) followed with wins for 10 more combined points and a 16-0 advantage.
Redshirt sophomore Abraham Rodriguez (157) stretched his winning streak to six straight with a 5-3 decision of Chris Castillo. Bonus-point victories by Thomas, Griego and Crawford closed out the afternoon.
"We wrestled well," OSU coach Jim Zalesky said. "There were a few matches we were a little sluggish but we found a way to win. We got some pins, and bonus points are always good going into the Pac-12 meet."
OSU completed season-ending, three-dual homestand by going 3-0 and outscoring then-No. 7 Oklahoma (22-12), Air Force (36-0) and Boise State (36-9) by a combined 94-21.
"We have been wrestling well and we looked pretty good today," Zalesky added. "There are some things to work on but we just have to keep wrestling the same way we've been doing."
The Beavers now head to Arizona State for Saturday's Pacific-12 Conference championships. OSU is the four-time defending champion; tickets for the event are available at the ASU website, thesundevils.com.
For more information on the Oregon State wrestling team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/OSU_Wrestling or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateWrestling.
Results:
HWT.: Amarveer Dhesi (OSU) pinned Gabriel Gonzalez (BSU), 1:16
125: Ronnie Bresser (OSU) dec. Rami Haddadin (BSU), 5-4
133: Joey Palmer (OSU) maj. dec. Carson Kuhn (BSU), 15-5
141: Jack Hathaway (OSU) dec. Josh Newberg (BSU), 6-2
149: Geordan Martinez (BSU) dec. Joey Delgado (OSU), 7-3
157: Abraham Rodriguez (OSU) dec. Chris Castillo (BSU), 5-3
165: Seth Thomas (OSU) pinned Taylor West (BSU), 4:13
174: Austin Dewey (BSU) pinned Tyler Chay (OSU), 5:00
184: Corey Griego (OSU) pinned Zach Coffman (BSU), 5:29
197: Cody Crawford (OSU) tech. fall Harley DiLulo (BSU), 18-3
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