Slaughter's Notebook: Oregon State is going to Omaha
After clinching a spot in the College World Series thanks to a series win against Vanderbilt, the Oregon State baseball team has now reached the destination they’ve been craving all season. Omaha. Only eight teams make it this far, and now the Beavers have their work cut out for them if they want to advance.
OSU vs Cal State Fullerton
By way of a 2-1 win against Long Beach State in the Long Beach Super Regional, the Beavers now have their opponent for game one in Omaha. Cal State Fullerton has had an impressive run through the NCAA Tournament thus far. They found themselves as a No. 2 seed in the Stanford Regional matched up with the No. 8 national seed. However, the Titans proved very quickly that they were the best team in Palo Alto as they dispatched of the other three teams with ease to move on the the Long Beach Super Regional.
Once in Long Beach, Fullerton flirted with disaster before advancing to the CWS. They dropped the opening game of the series, and ESPN stats show that the visiting team has just an 11 % chance to win the series after losing the opening game. However, the Titans did defy the odds and won two straight games against the Dirtbags to advance to Omaha for the 18th year. By definition folks, that is amazing it itself given that the Beavers have only made it to Omaha six times.
I’ll be diving into the Titans later in the week, but at first glance they will present a very difficult task for the Beavers because of their deep pitching staff. They have three starters that are very good and they held Long Beach to just four runs in three days.
Another one?
The Beavers are now the only team in the country with two 20 game winning streaks on the season. Earlier this year the Beavers won 23 straight games. The current streak stands at 21 and if the Beavers get to the championship series without losing, they will have eclipsed their own record. Nothing like two 20 games win streaks exemplifies just how impressive OSU’s entire season has been.
Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said it best.
“You folks that have watched them, are in this town and are fans of the program should take advantage of this,” Corbin said. “It doesn’t happen all the time. They are putting up numbers that are tough to come by, and sitting back and watching it, it’s fascinating to watch.”
KJ Harrison continuing his impressive stretch
What can you say about KJ that hasn’t been said already? The junior from Hawaii has been on fire since postseason play has started. Most impressively, he was much in the clutch against Vanderbilt. He belted two three-run home runs over the weekend, and each one of them turned the tide of the game. He hit his first three-run homer on Friday in the first inning to set the tone for Friday’s game and give OSU an early advantage. And then on Saturday, Harrison was able to essentially get No. 1 pick Kyle Wright off his groove by sending another three-run bomb into the left field bleachers and set the tone for the Beavers to clinch the game on Saturday. As I mentioned in my game recap, it’s crucial for teams to get hot at the right time in order to put themselves in a position to win a championship.
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Beavers staff is still solid with or without Heimlich
Despite not having Luke Heimlich against Vanderbilt, the Beavers still proved that they have the arms to reach Omaha. Jake Thompson leads the nation with 14 wins and is only one win away from setting the school record for most wins in a single season. Drew Rasmussen wasn’t needed this weekend, and that is a big plus for the Beavers given their situation. And what can you say about Bryce Fehmel? The kid is big time. He hadn’t started since May 6th, and had fallen out of favor with the coaches over the last month. So what does he do? He throws a complete game and keeps the Commodores at bay all night long.
"He was so good that I almost fell asleep,” Pat Casey said with a chuckle. “He was fantastic."
Now the Beavers have options. Drew Rasmussen didn’t throw this week which means he could potentially throw Saturday against CSF. Or the Beavers could go with Jake Thompson as will have seven full days of rest leading up to Saturday. OSU could also trot Heimlich onto the mound on Saturday. (More on that later)
The bottom line is, thanks to tremendous performances from Thompson and Fehmel, the Beavers have their choice of pitchers to throw against CSF on Saturday.
Will Luke Heimlich play?
** Brenden’s opinion**
This is the million dollar question. By now, all of you have to have an opinion on the Luke Heimlich situation, and here is what I think is going to happen..
I believe that Luke will pitch at some point in the College World Series. Whether or not I believe that he deserves to do so is a story that I will write if he does indeed pitch.
I don’t have any hard facts to go on, but my gut tells me that he will be back. I believe that he did the right thing in shutting himself down against Vanderbilt. If he did indeed pitch against the Commodores, it would have sent a very bad message about him and the Beavers.
But I think by the time Saturday comes around, the dust will have settled enough for him to go out and pitch against Cal State Fullerton. I’m not saying whether or not it’s right or not for him to pitch, but my gut tells me at some point he will be out on the mound in Omaha.
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