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Not much weakness on either roster, with both playing stellar ball coming into the best-of-3 World Series
By Arnie Leshin
Twenty five days after the 64-school field of NCAA Division I baseball threw its first pitch, it’s down to a stirring match-up of two surging teams when the NCAA best-of-3 World Series begins tonight in Omaha, Neb.
In one corner you have 3rd ranked Oregon State (53-11-1) from the Pac 12. In the other is 5thranked Arkansas (47-19) out of the tough SEC. When you check out the strengths of both, it’s like a mirror image.
Once again, there figures to be a packed house at TD Ameritrade Park, but also with the threat of rain. As usual, there have been postponements, long delays, and sometimes a race to place the tarpaulin on the infield as the skies emptied and the spectators scattered for cover.
Hopefully, the skies will clear, but right now it’s pouring in Omaha, and the tarpaulin has been covering the infield since the early morning.
Right now, that’s not good news for two schools raring to go, playing at a high level, and with strength wherever you look. That includes the key ingredients of pitching, hitting and fielding. Both feature well-balanced lineups, and if there’s any advantage, it might go to the Razorbacks and starting pitcher Blaine Knight, who is 13-0 and his team’s best all season.
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn has also named Kacey Murphy (8-5) as the game two pitcher, and if there’s a deciding game three, it would be Isaiah Campbell (5-6).
Oregon State head coach Pat Casey’s top hurler, senior southpaw Luke Heimlich (16-2), has started two games and didn’t get past the third inning in either one. His appearance here has drawn reaction on social media, but little to none in the stadium other than support from Beaver fans.
He’s had four days of rest, is no doubt frustrated, and so it’s up to Casey, who hasn’t mentioned any of his other pitchers.
Last year Heimlich left the team before the CWS after it had been revealed he had pleated guilty to molesting his 6-year-old niece when he was 15. After serving two years of probation and going through a treatment program, the university allowed him to return to the team this year.
But in recent interviews with Sports Illustrated and the New York Times, he denied wrongdoing, and said he will have further statements. But right now, he’s not the same on the mound as he’s been (25-2) over the last two years.
While the Razorbacks have lost only once in the tournament, that coming against SEC rival South Carolina in the Super Regional they hosted in Fayetteville, but in the two wins over the Gamecocks, the Hogs outscored them 23-7.
That advanced Arkansas to its first CWS since 1979, when it was one game for the title, played at Rosenblatt Field, and won by UCLA. So this is something new for the program under Van Horn, who can count on support from the Nebraska fans after being in the same role with the Huskers, and having some impressive seasons before moving on to the SEC.
After turning back Oral Roberts, Southern Mississippi and Dallas Baptist, in the Regional they hosted, and defeating a good South Carolina team, the Razorbacks swept past Texas Tech, Texas and defending champion Florida in Omaha. In winning nine-straight, they have outscored their opponents 85-35.
It was a different road that Oregon State had to take. It was the right path in the Regional it hostedwhen it rolled past Northwestern State, and twice over LSU to avenge last year’s back-to-back loses to the Bayou Tigers in the CWS. Then it remained at Corvallis to turn back Big 10 champion Minnesota twice in the Super Regional.
But the Beavers had a poor start in Omaha, losing their first game, 8-6, to North Carolina, but haven’t lost since in surviving elimination by winning over Pac 12 foe Washington, 14-5, North Carolina, 11-6, and Mississippi State twice, 12-2 and 5-2.
In the 10 games played, Oregon State has scored 89 times and has allowed 27. Now it plans to finish its redemption tour.
And unlike Arkansas’ history here, the Beavers won back-to-back CWS in 2006 and 2007, and on a mission to add another. They have experience that includes all but one returning player, and their pitching staff has depth.
Van Horn is in awe of what the West Coast school has accomplished.
“To win that many games (54-4 last year),” he said, “it is almost amazing to me. We talk about it all the time. How are they doing it? Well, now we have to see for ourselves.”
What the statistics say is that the Beavers are batting .449 (35 of 78) with two out, but Casey said “I would prefer that we would start a little sooner, like before two outs, and maybe even score a few more runs.”
Van Horn’s program was previously in Omaha in 2017, and has been ascending since going 26-29 and failing to make the tournament in 2016.
And like Oregon State, the Hogs have many of their key contributors back, as well as two of the best freshmen in the country in third baseman Casey Martin and left fielder Heston Kjerstad, with the two combining for 27 home runs.
One of their leaders is senior second baseman Carson Shaddy, who said this team has worked much harder than in 2015, and now has much more confidence. Plus, Shaddy has been coming through with key hits, as has been centerfielder Dominic Fletcher as the long-ball threat.
The Razorbacks have sat on a .300 batting average all season, while four players have slugged 10 or more home runs. They finished tied for first in the SEC West and are in their ninth CWS, fifth since 2004. They are the fifth national seed, and could become the fifth SEC school to win the national title since 2009.
The Beavers were the Pac 12 runner-up with 2ndranked Stanford, which lost quickly in the Regional it hosted. They are in their seventh CWS and came in as the 3rd national seed. They don’t have a weak spot in their lineup.
Sounds like a super match-up of two teams that can hit, field, pitch, and run the bases.
Now if only the weather would cooperate. Game time is scheduled for 5 p.m. mountain time, and only precipitation can delay that.
