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Third ranked Beavers came up out of the loser’s bracket to hand the Bulldogs their first loss in Omaha, Neb.
By Arnie Leshin
Win or else go home?
Facing elimination, Oregon State had the answer by continuing its march out of the loser’s bracket with Friday afternoon’s 12-2 win over previously unbeaten Mississippi State, to match the teams up again Saturday, and whoever wins that one stays around for the NCAA College World Series
that starts Monday.
In the night game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., defending champion, top-ranked Florida tries to also avoid elimination after it, too, bounded out of the loser’s bracket to meet up with unbeaten Arkansas.
Unranked Mississippi State has been the surprise team of the 64-school field, four times surviving elimination, three times winning on its final swing, and taking to the road to win Regional and Super Regional.
But the Bulldogs had no answer for Oregon State. Since its 8-6 setback to North Carolina in the opening game, it has really come together with rallies that overcame Pac 12 rival Washington, 14-5, and did the same in rolling past the Tar Heels, 11-6, to eliminate both of them.
Mississippi State suffered the same feat and will take the field Saturday knowing that it now be the one that goes home. But it will need to play better in order to advance to the CWS.
On this day, they fell behind 3-0, then 5-0, and after trimming it to 5-3, the Beaver bats put together another hit parade with four runs in the seventh and three in the eighth. The final Bulldog runs were too little, too late.
Now it’s all about pitching, leading off with the starters. Neither head coach had made a decision on this.
The Beavers (58-11-1) will be looking at returning to where they won the CWS in 2006 and 2007. The Bulldogs (37-25) went as far as the 2013 final.
The best way to look at this match-up is to realize how well Oregon State is playing, that it is no doubt on a mission, but not to take this Mississippi State team lightly.
