Oregon State In College World Series 3rd time!

[oregonpackfan]

The Oregon State Beavers Baseball team qualified for the College World Series for the third year in a row! They are also the defending National Champions.

There are two factors which make their success all the more remarkable. 1. Almost all the players are from the Pacific Northwest. There are few players outside the geographical region. 2. Oregon State plays many of their spring games in a rainy and cool season. Most of the playoff teams are from warm weather areas like Cal State-Irvine, Arizona State, Rice, Louisville, North Carolina, etc.

Go Beavers!

[packinpatland]

I know next to nothing about college baseball, but seeing as they might be playing ASU...................GO BEAVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[oregonpackfan]

Oregon State just beat U of Cal-Irvine 6-1 to make it to the Championship series!

This team has only 2 returning starters from last year's NCAA Championship
team. They started very slowly in the regular season but picked up momemtum towards the season's end. During playoff time, they have peaked!

[HarveyWallbangers]

I just can't get into college baseball, and I won't pretend to. Hopefully, they win.

[BallHawk]

I was voting for UC-Irvine, just because they were "the comeback kids." I could care less who wins now. I watch it sometimes, but have no rooting interest. I'll probably have a slight hope that OSU will win it. Better then Rice or UNC.

[packinpatland]

Good luck to those Beavers, who are they playing in the final game(s)?

[oregonpackfan]

Good luck to those Beavers, who are they playing in the final game(s)?

They will play the winner of the Rice-U-North Carolina game.

[packinpatland]

Not long ago I was listening to an article on NPR, they were saying that schools in the south and southwest had an advantage in producing better than average ball players, due to the fact that other parts of the country have limited outdoor playing time. So, how does Oregon do it?

[oregonpackfan]

Not long ago I was listening to an article on NPR, they were saying that schools in the south and southwest had an advantage in producing better than average ball players, due to the fact that other parts of the country have limited outdoor playing time. So, how does Oregon do it?

They have to spend a considerable amount of time practicing indoors in the early spring. When indoors for batting practice, they often use a softer ball, like a T-ball. Regular balls hit by a bat would wreak havoc on overhead lights, beams, walls, etc.

[oregonpackfan]

UNC defeated Rice today.

The College Series final will pitt North Carolina against Oregon State--the same two teams who were in the final last year.

Rice Owls at North Carolina Tar Heels
7UNC downs Rice, heads back to CWS finals for rematch
Associated Press

Updated: June 21, 2007, 10:19 PM ET
OMAHA, Neb. -- North Carolina powered its way back to the College World Series finals, hitting four home runs to support Adam Warren and two relievers in a 7-4 victory over Rice on Thursday night.

The Tar Heels beat Rice twice in two days to win their bracket for the second straight year. They will play defending champion Oregon State in only the second finals rematch in the CWS' 61-year history. Arizona State and Southern California met in 1972 and 1973.

It was a replay of last year's CWS for the Owls.

Rice won its first two games here in 2006, then went home after getting shut out twice by Oregon State. The Owls scored 29 runs in winning their first two games this year, including a 14-4 win over North Carolina, but they managed only five in the two losses to the Tar Heels.

North Carolina (57-14), which has an Atlantic Coast Conference-leading 70 home runs in 71 games, had just one in 13 postseason games before Wednesday's 6-1 win over Rice (56-14).

Dustin Ackley, whose three-run homer broke open Wednesday's game, homered leading off the second against Rice starter Matt Langwell (8-2) on Thursday.

Tim Fedroff's two-run homer, which put the Tar Heels up 3-2 in the third, was his fifth of the season and first since March 28.

Seth Williams homered in the fourth and Josh Horton went deep in the fifth, both off Bobby Bramhall.

Langwell had allowed just two homers in 79 1-3 innings coming into the CWS, but he gave up one to Louisville, two to Rice and the two to North Carolina here. Bramhall, who had given up just two in 60 1-3 innings entering Thursday, surrendered two in a span of five batters.

Warren (12-0), who got the win by pitching 4 1-3 innings of shutout relief against Mississippi State in the CWS opener, allowed three hits and three runs in six-plus innings in his first NCAA tournament start. The sophomore right-hander gave way to Rob Wooten after issuing a walk to start the seventh.

Wooten allowed back-to-back singles and an RBI double to Diego Seastrunk, who went 2-for-5 and drove in three runs after moving from No. 7 to No. 2 in the batting order.

Andrew Carignan came on to pitch the final 2 1-3 innings for his record-tying fifth career CWS save and 18th of the season. Carignan, who retired seven of the eight batters he faced, tied the CWS save record set by Huston Street of Texas.


Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press