June 23, 2007

Freshman hopes to give Beavers an early boost

By Andy Gardiner, USA TODAY

OMAHA — Jorge Reyes was pitching for a summer league team in Washington last June when word filtered through the dugout that Oregon State had just won its first NCAA baseball championship. If the Beavers win a second title this weekend, Reyes will be one of the first to know.

Reyes was an incoming freshman recruit for OSU last year. On Friday he sat in front of an array of microphones, cameras and tape recorders at a College World Series press conference. He is a major reason why Oregon State has a chance to become the first repeat champion since LSU in 1996-97.

Reyes will take the ball for the Beavers on Saturday night against North Carolina in the opener of their best-of-three showdown. How unlikely is it that a defending national champion would turn to a wisp of a freshman to begin its quest for a second title?

"If you had told me in February (that Reyes would be starting the first game of the championship finals) I would have said that must have been one wild ride," OSU coach Pat Casey said on the eve of the championship. "But sometimes you take a gamble and you hit the jackpot."

Reyes came to Corvallis from Warden, Wash., as a 6-2, 175-pound righthander with a live arm. Casey sent him to the bullpen.

"Coach told me I had to earn my position," Reyes says. "I was a starter in high school but I wanted to do whatever I could to help the team."

The coaching staff was impressed with Reyes' work in relief but wondered if he could be put to better use, especially when the team went into a 3-8 slide in May.

"Jorge was pitching so well we wanted to get more than two or three innings out of him," Casey says. "We flipped the rotation around six weeks ago and made him a starter."

Reyes was solid but not spectacular down the stretch of the regular season, going 2-2 in four Pacific-10 Conference starts. But once the Beavers reached the NCAA tournament, Reyes took off.

• Facing elimination in the Charlottesville regional, Reyes threw six innings in a 5-2 win over Rutgers.

• Given the ball in the opener of the super regionals against Michigan, Reyes shut the Wolverines out on three hits through seven innings in a game OSU eventually won 1-0.

• Reyes again was the starter in Oregon State's opening College World Series game and gave up one run in six innings in a 3-2 win over Cal State-Fullerton.

"It's surprising how fast things have gone," Reyes says. "I liked being a reliever but when Coach Casey offered a chance to start I didn't want to let the opportunity go by."

Reyes' most impressive post-season performance came in the game where he ended with a no decision against Michigan. Even though the game was played in Corvallis, the Wolverines were the home team in that meeting and UM starter Zach Putnam no-hit the Beavers through 8 2/3 innings.

Reyes kept Oregon State in the game by matching zeros with Putnam through seven innings until the bullpen and one ninth-inning single produced the only run.

"I like being the visiting team because then I know what I have to do to keep my team ahead," Reyes says. "I feel like I have to win every inning. If we get one run, I have to hold them to zero. If we get nothing, I have to make sure they get nothing. I couldn't match Putnam with hits but I did with runs."

Now Reyes will face the same North Carolina program the Beavers beat in three games last year to win the championship. It is the first rematch from the previous season since Arizona State and Southern California squared off in 1972 and 1973.

The teams switched paths to reach the finals. A year ago Oregon State lost its opening game and had to fight out of the loser's bracket while UNC swept three games to advance unbeaten. This week the Beavers come in 3-0 while the Tar Heels had to win three elimination games to survive.

"We'll use their example from last year and they'll use ours," said North Carolina coach Mike Fox. "There is something positive about playing three straight games to get here but the rest is also very important."

It doesn't matter either way to Reyes, who will be pitching on six days rest but is excited enough to go on one.

"The hitters are the same, the team is the same whatever game it is, but I like pitching the first game," Reyes said. "I'm ready to compete."