On the final day of any given weekend baseball series this season, the Oregon State has struggled to find offensive and pitching consistency. Behind stalwart starting pitchers Luke Heimlich and Bryce Fehmel, the Beavers have been as good as anyone in the country on Friday and Saturday nights as the offense seems to flow with dominant pitching.
However, Sunday’s have been a bit of a challenge for the Beavers this season as they’ve had several different starting pitchers cycle through that were inconsistent and couldn’t settle into a groove.
There were plenty of question marks surrounding how Pat Casey and Co. would handle the postseason pitching rotation with the Beavers Sunday blues, but Casey and pitching coach Nate Yeskie had confidence in freshman Kevin Abel and gave him the opportunity to seal the deal on LSU.
Boy did he ever.
“It was a lot of fun playing in front of this crowd,” Abel said with a grin. “Really, it was all about me fixing up the mental game and staying within myself knowing that I have the best defense in the country behind me. Pound the zone, get ahead, stay ahead.”
The freshman right-hander dominated in his first postseason start as he shutout LSU and limited them to three hits while tallying eight strikeouts. Abel has grown immensely over the course of the season and showcased some of his best stuff when it mattered most.
“A lot mentally. That’s for sure,” Abel said of how much he’s grown over the last month or so. “Nothing has changed physicality, it's all just been up here (points at head). (Nate) Yeskie and (Former OSU outfielder) Tyler Graham have been huge influences. I can’t thank them enough for letting me be the player I know I can be.”
Just like the night before, the Beaver offense wasted little time getting on the board against the Tigers.
Leadoff man Steven Kwan fought off seven pitches off of LSU starter Devin Fontenot to start the Beavers’ first inning of the night before sending the eighth over the bleachers in right field to give OSU a 1-0 lead.
The Beavers weren’t done in the first as Trevor Larnach walked and Adley Rutschman and Michael Gretler hit back-to-back singles give OSU a 2-0 lead. Kyle Nobach then drew a walk to load bases. Fontenot then proceeded to hit Jack Anderson to give the Beavers a 3-0 lead after one full.
The Beavers chased Fontenot in the second as Kwan and Cadyn Grenier reached on an error and a walk respectively. Fontenot was saddled his first loss of the season before giving way to John Kodros who gave up a single to Nick Madrigal to load the bases for Larnach. Larnach drew his second walk of the game to score Kwan and give the Beavers a 4-0 advantage. Nobach then reached on a fielder's choice to give OSU a 5-0 lead after two full.
OSU tallied another solo home run off the bat of Grenier in the third as he sent a moon shot well over the left-center wall to give OSU a 6-0 lead.
The Beavers kept the offensive onslaught going in the sixth as Nobach laced an RBI double off the wall in center to score Madrigal and Larnach who had singled and walked earlier in the inning. Anderson then knocked a base hit into right to score Nobach; he advanced the third on a throwing error and Taylor delivered a base hit to left to give the Beavers a 10-0 advantage after six full.
Nobach gave OSU their 11th run of the night in the eight by way of a RBI double to the right-center that scored Gretler. Nobach tallied three hits, two of which were doubles and finished with three total RBI. Kwan later added an RBI single in the eighth to boost the the Beavers’ run total to 12.
The Beavers earned nothing but praise from one of the best in the business in LSU's Paul Maineri.
“Oregon State is a really good team,” LSU coach Paul Maineri said. “I’d put them up there with the best we have in the SEC. Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss, the Beavers are right there with them.”
OSU’s offense continued its torrid pace once again on Sunday as the Beavers tallied 14 hits while also hitting two solo home runs. The Beavers outscored their three opponents Northwestern State and LSU (twice) 35-4 over the course of the weekend.
Up Next
By way of winning the Corvallis Regional, Oregon State (47-10-1) advances to the Super Regionals and by virtue of being a national seed, they’ll host in the friendly confines of Goss Stadium. The Corvallis Regional was paired with the Minneapolis Regional and Minnesota won their regional, meaning the Beavers will welcome the Golden Gophers to Corvallis for a best of three series with a spot to Omaha on the line.
OSU will open play against Minnesota (43-13) on either Friday or Saturday with times TBA.
