Pitching to be the key between two hard-hitting clubs
FAYETTEVILLE - Great hitting thrust the Arkansas Razorbacks and Oregon State Beavers upon the thresholds of becoming College World Series finalists.
But it took great pitching in their respective bracket finals, vaulting each into this best 2 of 3 series for college baseball’s national championship. The Dave Van Horn coached Razorbacks, 47-19, and the Pac 12’s Beavers, 53-11-1, of Coach Pat Casey start tonight at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
Game times are 6 tonight, 6 p.m. Tuesday and, if necessary 6 p.m. Wednesday and all televised by ESPN.
Arkansas hits .302 as a team with seven starters hitting from .286 to the top .357 attained by freshman phenoms Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin. The team won its Bracket 2 in Omaha, 11-5, 7-4 and 5-2 over Big 12 champion Texas, Texas Tech of the Big 12 and Florida, the 2018 SEC champion and CWS top-seed and 2017 CWS champion.
They required their best pitched game of the tournament to beat the reigning national champion and they got it. Often up and down third-year sophomore right-hander Isaiah Campbell, threw a perfect game for the first 14 hitters and eventually handed a 5-2 lead with one out in the sixth for relievers Jake Reindl and then Matt Cronin to finish last Friday night.
Meanwhile, Oregon State, batting .323 as a team overall, got knocked 8-6 by North Carolina into the loser’s bracket in its CWS opener. The Beavers didn’t have a starting pitcher reach the fifth inning of their 14-5, 11-6 and 12-2 victories over Washington, North Carolina and Mississippi State until freshman Kevin Abel threw seven complete in the 5-2 win last Saturday night over Mississippi State. The Beavers needed Abel at his ablest as their five runs, all scored in one inning, and eight hits were their fewest of the tournament, having whacked 13, 16, 10 and 15 hits their previous games.
So big as the Razorbacks and Beavers bats have boomed at Omaha, expect the arms ultimately to decide this national championship.
That appears in Arkansas’ favor starting junior All-American 13-0 right-hander Blaine Knight of Bryant tonight. He comes off a full week’s rest from his June
17 start over Texas, prevailing for five innings without, he said his best stuff followed by junior lefty Kacey Murphy of Rogers, 8-5, starting Tuesday after starting last Wednesday against Texas Tech. If need be, Campbell could start Wednesday on four days rest.
Arkansas’ primary relievers, Barrett Loseke, Reindl and closer Cronin, should be rested and ready.
Oregon State senior lefty Luke Heimlich, 16-2, is the most heralded pitcher in the tournament since Arkansas banished Florida All-American Brady Singer. But, Heimlich’s two starts against North Carolina in Omaha were disastrous. He didn’t last three innings in either. Junior right-hander Bryce Fehmel, 10-1 as OSU’s No. 2 starter, also got hammered his in two starts in Omaha and was rescued by the bullpen.
“We haven't got one quality start out of our two best guys in four starts," Casey said at Sunday’s press conference in Omaha. “That's puzzling to me.”
And puzzled him about naming a starter. Casey mentioned Heimlich, Fehmel and freshman lefty Christian Chamberlain, 3-0 with but just three starts and 36 innings, as possible starters tonight.
“We’re going to find out who feels good,” Casey said. “We've got a couple different options, that's for sure.”
Casey also was asked Sunday about Steven Kwan, the .359 hitting center fielder who missed OSU’s first four games in Omaha with a hamstring injury but did pinch hit and played center in Saturday's ninth inning against Mississippi State. Will Kwan start in Monday’s game?
“As far as Steven Kwan, don't know,” Casey said. “He said he was 100 percent last night, that's all I can tell you. So we'll see, we'll see how he does in practice. I sure hope he can play. He's a heck of a player.”
Each are up against a heck of a team, the coaches say.
“They're outstanding,” Casey said of the Hogs. "They've been terrific from start to finish. I think anytime you knock off the defending champion, it says something about your club. We know this is going to be a heck of a series.”
Casey noted how the Beavers have been feted for their hitting but observed, “We’ve hit 60 home runs. They’ve hit 98.”
Van Horn marveled that the Beavers went 56-6 as last year’s national runner-up to LSU and won over 50 games again to be a CWS finalist again.
“Just really intrigued how a team went throughout the season, lost only five, six, seven games all year, pretty much duplicated it again this year,” Van Horn said.