June 17, 2007

Unexpected hero lifts Oregon State
By ERIC OLSON
The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. -- Shoulder surgery in the off-season and an inconsistent regular season left Scott Santschi hopeful that he could play a small part in Oregon State's bid to repeat as national champion.

Santschi played a starring role Saturday night, hitting his first homer of the season and driving in two runs in the Beavers' 3-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton in the College World Series.

"I was thinking before the game that I wanted to be able to do anything I could to help this team," Santschi said. "Winning the first one is always big."

The Beavers (45-18) had to survive some nervous moments before moving to a Monday game against Pacific-10 rival Arizona State. Big West members Fullerton (38-24) and UC Irvine will meet in an elimination game Monday.

Jorge Reyes, Joe Paterson and Eddie Kunz combined to allow six hits for the Beavers, trying to become the first repeat champion since LSU in 1996-97.

Fullerton's Wes Roemer, the Arizona Diamondbacks' first-round draft pick, struck out seven to become the school's career leader.

Mike Lissman homered in the first and Santschi singled in a run in the second for a 2-0 Beavers lead. Santschi's homer in the seventh made it 3-1.

It was Santschi's first home run since June 11, 2006, the day the Beavers swept a Super Regional against Stanford to set the stage for their first title.

Arizona St. 5, UC Irvine 4

Ike Davis hit a tie-breaking home run leading off the bottom of the eighth inning as the Sun Devils (49-13) edged the Anteaters (45-16-1).

ASU got solid pitching from Mike Leake and Jason Jarvis, holding UC Irvine scoreless in the last five innings.

As usual, the Sun Devils relied on their power to win the first game of their 20th CWS, scoring all their runs on long balls. Matt Spencer hit a three-run homer in the second and CJ Retherford had a solo homer in the fifth to go along with Davis' game-winner.