OSU Beavers National Champs!

I thought I would never say this, but congratulations to the Oregon State University Beavers baseball team on winning the universities' first major sport national championship. If you have read my profile you should know I am a University of Oregon alum, and as a Duck it is a virtual sin to root for the rival Beavers, but I can justify it in baseball since the Ducks don't have a team. I think the Beavers should thank the Ducks for letting them have the best in-state baseball talent in Oregon, which helped them win their championship.

I was glad to see them make it back to Omaha for their second straight College World Series appearance. They got the experience last season and had the talent to win it this year, but it wasn't easy they had to win three elimination games and came through the consolation bracket to advance to the Finals.

After the University of Miami Hurricanes manhandled them in their first meeting 11-1 in game 1 of the Beavers CWS run, it immediately put them in the losers bracket where they could lose no more in the double-elimination format.
In the rematch the Beavers turned the tables and eliminated the Hurricanes 8-1 winning with ease. They then had to face the 2004 College World Series Champs Rice University, who came into the tournament as the favorite and ranked #1. The Beavers pitching was dominate winning the first game 5-0 and then eliminating the Owls in another shutout the following night, 2-0. The Beavers won four straight games in four days to advance to the CWS Championship Series. They now faced the University of North Carolina (at Chapel Hill) Tar Heels in a best of three for the title. Neither school had made it to the college baseball title series before. I would have been happy either way as I have been a long-time Tar Heels fan too, but they have won many basketball championships it meant more for OSU to win.

The Tar Heels snapped the Beavers win streak winning a close Game 1, 4-3. The Beavers battled back to tie the series at 1-1 winning a high scoring game 11-7, and in a classic Game 3 pitchers duel the Beavers prevailed 3-2, as the Beavers capitalized on an error to score the winning run. The Beavers proved how important experience is as their senior dominated lineup beat the young Tar Heels.

The Beavers set a school record winning 50 games this season. The CWS is usually dominated by southern, warm climate schools, such as teams in California, Texas, or Florida. The Beavers became the first northern-climate team to win the NCAA Division I baseball championship since the University of Minnesota Gophers in 1964 (1st time in my life time). It also was OSU's 1st national championship since the men's cross country team won in 1961.

In his 12th season at Oregon State, coach Pat Casey (391-253-4) achieved his dream of bringing Beavers baseball to the collegiate pinacle. The Beavers won the Pacific-10 Conference Championship for the second year in a row for the first time in school history. Pac-10 baseball is very strong with Arizona State, Arizona, Stanford and USC bringing home the College World Series title many times. Casey has had a winning season in 10 of his 12 seasons at OSU. Notre Dame University tried to steal him away, but he kept his loyalty to the northwest signing a new 10-year contract with the Beavers worth $3 million. Casey was named the 2006 Collegiate Baseball newspaper National Coach of the Year and also Baseball America magazine's 2006 Coach of the Year.

Even before the Beavers made it to the College World Series, Major League Baseball noticed the talent of the OSU players by drafting nine of them to help fill minor league rosters. Starting right hand pitcher Dallas Buck was the first picked by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the third round. Outfielder Cole Gillespie was also selected in the third round by the Milwaukee Bucks. Left hand starting pitcher Kevin Gunderson was selected in the fifth round by the Atlanta Braves, and right hand pitcher Jonah Nickerson was the final Beaver selected on the first day of the draft in the seventh round by the Detroit Tigers.

Second day picks included outfielder Tyler Graham in the 19th round by the San Francisco Giants; second baseman Christopher Kunda also in the 19th round by the New York Yankees; third baseman Shea McFeeley in the 28th round also by the Arizona Diamondbacks; catcher Mitch Canham in the 41st round by the St. Louis Cardinals, and right hand pitcher Jon Koller in the 48th round by the New York Mets.