No. 8 Beavers Earn First-Ever College World Series Victory

Salem-News.com Sports

OMAHA, Neb. - Oregon State picked up its first-ever College World Series win in school history Monday afternoon as the No. 8-ranked Beavers beat No. 12 Georgia 5-3 in a loser-out game at Rosenblatt Stadium. Jonah Nickerson pitched seven innings of four-hit ball for OSU and the Beavers turned three double plays, including one to end the game with the tying runs on base.

OSU (45-15 overall) now plays another loser-out game Tuesday at 6:00 PM PDT against the loser of Monday night`s game between No. 1 Rice and No. 24 Miami (Fla.). The game can bee seen on the ESPN2 cable network, and all of the Beavers` games in the CWS can be heard on KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area, KRNR-AM (1490) in the Roseburg area, KMED-AM (1440) in the Medford area, KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area and KNPT-AM (1310) in the Newport area.

On Monday, OSU built a 4-1 lead by the middle of the third inning, then turned to Nickerson, closer Kevin Gunderson and its defense to top Georgia (47-23). It was the first time in six tries, over three College World Series appearances dating back to 1952, that the Beavers had won a CWS game.

“It does come to the back of your mind,“ OSU head coach Pat Casey said of the school`s first-ever win in Omaha. “These players committed themselves and have done a tremendous job putting our program on the map.“

Added Nickerson on the historic win: “It wasn`t even on my mind, but it`s sinking in now. Our season comes down to winning and this feels pretty good.“

The Beavers had to bounce back from an 11-1 loss to Miami on Saturday night to beat Georgia and buy themselves at least one more game this season.

“We just flushed it out,“ Gunderson said of the long, rain-soaked loss to the Hurricanes. “Give credit to Miami, they jumped on us. It came down to one loss and our season was done.

“We didn`t want that taste again. We need to take one game at a time. It`s tough road ahead of us, but we are ready for it.“

Gunderson retired Jason Jacobs on a groundout to start the ninth inning, then got ground balls from Matt Olson and Ryan Peisel but they snuck through the OSU infield for singles to put the tying runs on base. On a one-ball, one-strike pitch to Beckham, Gunderson got yet another grounder and this one was straight to OSU shortstop Darwin Barney; he flipped the ball to second baseman Chris Kunda for the second out and Kunda`s relay to first baseman Bill Rowe was in time to complete the game-ending double play.

“I was just trying to get ahead (in the count,“ Gunderson said of the pitch. “Once I saw it heading to Darwin, I knew we had it.“

The Beavers also turned a double play in the fifth inning to limit the Bulldogs to one run on three hits, then got another twin killing in the sixth to keep Georgia scoreless despite committing two errors in the frame.

“The double plays ripped their hearts out every time,“ Georgia coach David Perno said. “We hit into three double plays at the worst time. Give them (the Beavers) credit – they had opportunities to turn them, and they turned them.“

Oregon State – which hadn`t scored until the eighth inning against Miami on Saturday night – got on the board early Monday against Georgia lefthander Mickey Westphal. In the second, Tyler Graham and Mike Lissman led off with singles, Bill Rowe reached on an error while sacrificing the runners to second and third, and Chris Kunda delivered a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. In the third, Cole Gillespie doubled down the rightfield line – extending his hitting streak to 18 games – and then scored on Graham`s two-out bunt single down the third base line.

“We were more comfortable today,“ said Graham, who made a pair of tough catches in centerfield and had a 2-for-3 day as the Beavers outhit the Bulldogs 12-7. “This is our second time here (following OSU`s elimination in two games in the 2005 CWS) and I think we were looser. We had a great guy on the mound.“

In his seven innings, Nickerson allowed two runs on four hits and no walks while striking out three. He improved his record to 12-4 this season, tying him for second place on OSU`s all-time list of single-season victory leaders.

“We just stuck with the same game plan,“ Nickerson said. “We wanted to make the defense play behind me. It`s easy to pitch with a defense like that behind me.“

Along with the trio of double plays, OSU got a leaping catch from Graham at the centerfield wall to take an extra-base hit away from Joey Side in the first inning and a diving catch in the left-centerfield gap on a drive by Side to end the third inning. That came just after Jonathan Wyatt had homered to right to cut Oregon State`s lead to 2-1.

OSU bumped the lead to 4-1 with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning. Lissman was hit by a pitch to start the inning and stole second, then scored on Chris Kunda`s one-out double; Kunda scored on Barney`s two-out single through the left side. In the fifth, Georgia pulled within 4-2 when Matt Olson led off with a double and scored from third on Matthew Dunn`s two-out bloop single to center.

Oregon State added a run in the top of the eighth when Shea McFeely led off with a double to left-center, then scored when Lissman punched a single through the left side of a drawn-in Bulldog infield. Georgia got that run back in the bottom of the inning against Gunderson, who walked Wyatt with one out, threw a pair of wild pitches to movehim to third, and then saw the run score on Bobby Felmy`s single through the left side.

Lissman was also 2-for-3 for the Beavers, while Barney was 2-for-5. Graham increased his current hitting streak to eight games and Bill Rowe doubled to increase his hitting streak to six.

Olson was 2-for-3 and Peisel was 2-for-4 for Georgia. Westphal went just four innings for Georgia, yielding four runs on seven hits and no walks, striking out three.

OSU had been in danger of becoming the only team ever to lose its first six CWS games; Baylor and North Carolina had also both gone 0-5 in the event before getting their first wins. Coincidentally, Baylor`s victory to end that skid had come against the Beavers in 2005 to eliminate OSU.

While Oregon State had been ranked ahead of Georgia in the final USA Today/ESPN coaches poll of the regular season, the Bulldogs had been rated seventh among the eight national seeds in the 64-team field. OSU`s win leaves just three of the national seeds – No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Rice and No. 5 Cal State-Fullerton – among the teams remaining.

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