Oregon State Wins the National Championship in College Baseball

Oregon State are the National Champions of college baseball. Again. Behind the superior pitching of freshman, Kevin Abel, the Beavers finished off the business they came to Omaha to do.

Head coach, Pat Casey, has built a program that expects to win on a national level. Beaver coaches, players, and fans expect a trip to the College World Series every June.

The trips are becoming common place for the Beaver baseball program.

If the trips are like Thursday night, take all the trips to Omaha you want Oregon State.

On Thursday night, the Oregon State Beavers won their third National Championship in school history. The Beavers dominated the Arkansas Razorbacks in a 5-0 win.

Oregon State got phenomenal play out of their young players. Sophomore, Adley Rutschman and Freshman, Kevin Abel, pushed the Beavers to their celebratory dogpile with their performances.

Showing the momentum that was gained by their fierce comeback on Wednesday night, the Beavers jumped on the Razorbacks early. Oregon State jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the game and never looked back.

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Kevin Abel, the freshman right hander, went the distance for the Beavers. He tossed a two-hit shutout while striking out 10 Razorbacks. Arkansas hitters were off balance all night. The Hog hitters did not know what was coming because Abel can throw a variety of quality pitches. Abel threw 129 pitches and went undefeated in Omaha.

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After the game, Kevin Abel, said that he had no idea how he went the distance for his team.

Well, Kevin, Beaver Nation is happy that you did and that you are around for at least two more years.

The other aspect of Abel’s dominance was that he kept the Razorback crowd in their seats. The crowd was a Hog dominant crowd because of the fairly close proximity to the University of Arkansas. Razorback fans had nothing to cheer about on Thursday night.

You have to know that the Razorback team was still feeling the sting of losing on Wednesday night. Being one strike away from a national title and then having the Beavers rip their hearts was still on their mind. Then you add in the fact that a potent Arkansas offense was being controlled by a freshman. It was a double whammy for the Razorbacks.

Adley Rutschman, the switch hitting sophomore catcher, was about as good as anybody as ever been in Omaha. Rutschman was chosen as the College World Series Most Outstanding Player. Adley got three more hits to bring his total to a CWS record 17 hits. He hit .567 in Omaha. He finished the season hitting around .400 and basically caught every game.

Rutschman will be a Beaver for one more year. He is projected to be a top three MLB Draft pick next year.

The Beavers are only the second team to lose their first game of the College World Series and then come back to win the National Championship.

In case you were wondering, the 2006 Oregon State Beavers were the other team to do it.

When Rutschman knocked in his RBI single in the third inning, it was Oregon State’s 89th hit in CWS. That destroyed a 30-year record.

Oregon State came to Omaha on a business trip.

The Beavers left with the best business deal you could ask for.

A National Championship.