June 21, 2007
OSU in command
Beavers dominate UC Irvine, return to championship series
By Cliff Kirkpatrick
For the Democrat-Herald
OMAHA, Neb. — This College World Series bully role suits the Oregon State baseball team.
The Beavers didn’t allow this year’s Cinderella team to duplicate what they accomplished last year: going through the loser’s bracket to a national title.
It only took three innings for OSU to take command of Wednesday night’s game and defeat UC Irvine 7-1 before a crowd of 29,921 in Rosenblatt Stadium.
“We are just happy to get to the championship series again,” coach Pat Casey said. “I don’t know what the odds were after where we were a month ago.
“So I feel happy for the players. It’s another step to what we want to do every year.”
A four-run third inning started the Beavers (47-18) on the way to the victory and a spot in the best-of-3 championship series this weekend.
They face the winner of today’s North Carolina-Rice game for an opportunity to win their second straight national title.
“We knew we had the potential,” shortstop Darwin Barney said. “To get to this point of your season, a lot of things have to go your way. This year we showed how dominant our club can be.”
It was an easy run through the bracket for the Beavers, also defeating Cal State Fullerton and Arizona State.
They have been on a hot streak since barely making it into the NCAA tournament. They’ve won eight straight games and nine of their 10 postseason contests.
The Anteaters (47-17-1) were eliminated from the CWS after winning two elimination games in extra innings. They ran out of pitching and couldn’t keep up offensively with the Beavers.
“A magical run has come to an end,” Irvine coach Dave Serrano said. “I won’t understand what this team has accomplished until the emotion of this loss goes away.
“I’m proud of what we did for our program, university and community. We put UC Irvine baseball on the map.”
Chris Hopkins started the third-inning rally by being hit by a pitch. He scored from second base on a throwing error by third baseman Tyler Vaughn to first base.
Hopkins continued around third and scored during the surprise of first baseman Taylor Holiday, who thought it was the third out when he tagged Mike Lissman.
Mitch Canham followed that with a two-run home run. It was his 10th of the season and first since May 18 against Arizona State. Before that knock, he had hit only one home run in his previous 24 games.
Darwin Barney finished the scoring that inning when John Wallace drove him in with a triple. Barney singled in Joey Wong in the fifth and Lissman in the seventh.
“We’ve always been confident, and know we are a good club,” Barney said. “It’s just a matter of putting things together.”
Pitcher Daniel Turpen (10-1) made his first start since the regional more than two weeks ago. He began the season as the No. 3 starter, but went to the bullpen in late April.
Turpen pitched eight innings, struck out five batters and allowed one run. Irvine scored in the fourth inning when Cody Cipriano was driven in by Ollie Linton.
“We just got beat by a better team today,” Serrano said. “They deserve to be playing for a national championship.”
The Beavers had sympathy for the Anteaters because of what they were trying to accomplish. They still remember not sleeping each night before an elimination game, wondering if it was the last game of the year.
They also knew that if the Anteaters believed they were unbeatable, they might have been.
“Irvine is such a good club,” Barney said. “They have been thriving off these comebacks. We knew if we got ahead, our pitching was good enough we had a good chance today. Last year, it took something else. It took special energy and special players.”