Oregon State Beavers Had a Memorable Season

Number 1 Ranking

The Beavers’ earned their Number 1 NCAA ranking by setting a school record with 56 victories in 2017. The OSU team tasted only 6 losses all season (2 of which came in the College World Series). Not only achieving a school-best record for victories, the OSU Beavers had one of the most memorable seasons in NCAA college baseball history.

Regular Season

The PAC-12 was its usual “tough out” league this season. The Beavers won the PAC-12 regular season title with a conference record of 27 wins and only 3 losses, followed by Stanford (21-9), UCLA (19-11), and Arizona (16-14). Arizona State (8-22) and USC (also 8-22) held up the rest of the PAC-12 by finishing tied for last place.

OSU finished second to Arizona in the team batting average race with an impressive .291 team average. The Beavers also led the league in the pitching category with an amazing staff ERA of 1.93, including a league-leading 506 strikeouts.

College World Series (CWS)

Unfortunately, the OSU Beavers CWS experience was unsatisfying as the Beavers were eliminated from the tournament by LSU. Oregon State staged an impressive comeback in its first game in the CWS, beating perennial NCAA baseball power Cal State Fullerton (CSF). After CSF created a four-run deficit, the Beaver offense finally “woke up” in the sixth inning, scoring four runs to tie the game at 5 – 5.

Beaver catcher, Adley Rutschman, drove in the game-winning run by singling in the eighth inning. Leading OSU hitter Nick Madrigal also had two hits and one RBI. Madrigal finished second in the PAC-12 with a .380 batting average, including 40 RBIs and 4 home runs.

After CSF scored three runs in the first inning, OSU scored a run in the second, driven in by Steven Kwan, OSU’s second leading hitter, with a season’s batting average of .331. CSF scored two runs in the fourth inning to increase their lead to four runs at 5 – 1.

The Beavers crept up and tied the game in the sixth inning. Jack Anderson, who recorded a 3-for-3 game, and contributed a hit-by-pitch in the eighth inning during the two-out rally. Jake Mulholland got the W after pitching 4 1/3 hitless innings of hitless baseball, after CSF grabbed the early lead. This Beaver victory was their 55^th of the historic season and 22^nd win in a row.

Prior to the CSF game, head coach, Pat Casey, was named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Coach of the Year. This was the 4^th time coach Casey has earned Coach of the Year awards (2005, 2006, 2007, and this year).

The Beavers would win one more game to record their 56^th win. After LSU knocked Florida State out of the CWS, OSU’s first game against LSU eared their 56^th victory as they thrashed the Tigers, 13 – 1. Unfortunately for Beaver fans, the next game went to LSU 3 – 1, as the Tigers shut down the Beaver offense. Alas, the LSU Tigers repeated their shut down of the Beaver offense in the third game, 6 – 1. They are the first opponent to shut down OSU in consecutive games all season.

Summary

The unfortunate CWS result takes nothing away from the Beaver historic season. They won their conference, regionals, super regionals, and made a good showing in the CWS. The Beavers came 3 wins short of a national championship as they ran into a “red hot” LSU team.

College baseball observers are predicting an OSU return to the 2018 CWS. They lose only four players to the MLB draft in the top 10 rounds, with only one significant contributor who has completed his NCAA eligibility.

© William A. Pirraglia