Beavers rally, extend streak
OMAHA, Neb. — Unbeaten national wins leader Jake Thompson was scuffling, his teammates were struggling against Connor Seabold and Oregon State was facing a four-run deficit that was its biggest in almost two months.
This year’s Beavers can never be counted out, though. They have, after all, lost only four times.
After reliever Jake Mulholland settled things down for Oregon State and Cal State Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook made a pitching change he ended up regretting, the No. 1-seeded Beavers rallied to beat the Titans 6-5 Saturday in the opening game of the College World Series.
“I think just with how this whole season’s gone for us, we know that we’re in just about any game,” junior outfielder Jack Anderson said. “Doesn’t matter. We’re down one, down four, we’re just believing in ourselves regardless of the score.”
Adley Rutschman hit the tiebreaking single in the eighth inning after having flied out four times and stranded eight runners in his previous at-bats. Mulholland pitched 4 1/3 innings of no-hit relief to help Oregon State (55-4) extend its winning streak to 22 games.
Thompson, who came into the game with 14 wins, lasted 3 2/3 innings in his shortest outing of the season. Mulholland (7-1), who throws in the mid-80s compared with the low 90s for Thompson, retired 12 of 13 batters. The hard-throwing Drew Rasmussen pitched the ninth for his second save.
“Mully was really good,” Beavers coach Pat Casey said. “He just carved — goes in, out, soft, firm. And then he’s a contrast to the velocity of Jake Thompson, and I imagine that Drew looked like he was throwing 200 when he got in the game after Mully’s stuff.”
The Beavers tied it with four runs in the sixth inning, and Rutschman put them ahead with his single up the middle off Blake Workman (6-3).
Timmy Richards’ three-run homer in the first and Chris Hudgins’ two-run single in the fourth gave the Titans (39-23) a 5-1 lead, the largest deficit the Beavers have faced since losing 7-1 to UCLA on April 22.
Seabold worked a strong five innings, but his pitch count ballooned to 97 and he was relieved by Colton Eastman to start the bottom of the sixth. Eastman, who was spectacular in a seven-inning start in the super regional-clinching win over Long Beach State last Sunday, couldn’t find the strike zone.
“They’re really good,” Vanderhook said of the Beavers, “and I’m stupid. I out-thought myself. Eastman was on a normal rest. We had a healthy lead. At that point, I figured let’s turn it over to the best guy. I let them get back in the game, and you don’t do that to good teams.
“When you have them down, you keep them down, and we didn’t do that. We gave them momentum, and they took advantage of it. That’s why they’ve only lost four games.”
McKay honored
Louisville’s Brendan McKay, a pitcher/first baseman, has won the Dick Howser Trophy as the top player in college baseball.
McKay, the fourth overall pick in the MLB draft last week, was honored by the Howser Trophy committee and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association during a ceremony Saturday at the CWS.
McKay (10-3), who will start on the mound today against Texas A&M, has a 2.34 ERA with 140 strikeouts in 104 innings. He’s batting .343 with 17 home runs and 56 RBIs.