Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Heartbroken Hogs
Hogs get shut out; Beavers win championship
Blaine Knight (right) hugs fellow Arkansas pitcher Matt Cronin on Thursday after the Razorbacks fell to the Oregon State Beavers, 5-0 during finals game 3 of the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. For a report on the game, turn to
OMAHA, Neb. — The Arkansas Razorbacks’ first College World Series championship will have to wait for another year.
After an emotional ninth-inning collapse in a Game 2 loss with the title in their grasp Wednesday, the Razorbacks looked sluggish and ran into a relentless Oregon State lineup and freshman pitcher Kevin Abel in a 5-0 loss in the series finale before a crowd of 19,323 at TD Ameritrade Park on Thursday.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (48-21) took a hot postseason roll into the CWS and won its first four games in Omaha before losing its offensive firepower in the best-of-three final. The Razorbacks hit .147 in three games against Oregon State and struck out 38 times.
Oregon State (55-12-1) captured its third championship, following back-to-back titles in 2006-07, by winning six consecutive elimination games in Omaha.
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said there was probably a tinge of carryover from the lost ninth inning lead Wednesday.
“There was probably still a little bit of that ‘what if’ and disappointment,” Van Horn said. “It’s only human nature for that. … I don’t think we’ll ever know. If Abel hadn’t thrown it so well, maybe it’s a little different story. But he just didn’t give us a chance really.”
The Beavers rode the emotion of Wednesday’s comeback victory right into the finale.
“After last night our team felt pretty confident,” said catcher Adley Rutschman, who was named the CWS most valuable player. “Our team is always confident, but I think just having that momentum, our team kind of felt that. I think you saw that desire, that will to win from the first inning.”
Said Oregon State Coach Pat Casey, “I felt so good about the momentum that we had and felt that the pressure was on them. … I felt like the pressure was on Arkansas and not us. I can’t tell you I knew we were going to win. I can tell you I knew we were going to play well.”
The Beavers entered the finale with their pitching staff on fumes and Abel (8-1) was dominant, turning in a two-hitter in his first career complete game, dealing the Razorbacks their only shutout of the season. He retired the final 20 Arkansas hitters in the process.
“I never would have dreamed that he was going to go nine innings,” Casey said. “Abel just kept coming in saying, ‘This is the easiest I’ve ever thrown. The ball’s just coming out of my hand. I’m relaxed. I have no stress.’
“I’m looking at the guy saying ‘I know I should take you out of the game but how can I do that?’ Because that club, Arkansas, is very good offensively. … But Kevin Abel locked them up. He absolutely locked them up.”
Abel, staked to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, won three games in Omaha, including both elimination games in the final series. He joined Arkansas ace Blaine Knight as the two pitchers on the All-CWS team.
“My job was to go as far as I could, whether it was three innings, four innings, five innings, it didn’t matter,” Abel said. “I was very appreciative that they decided to score early this game. I know this team can really hit.”
The Beavers outhit the Razorbacks 28-14 and batted .283 for the series.
Rutschman went 17 for 30 (.567) in Omaha with 13 RBI. Rutschman hit 8 for 13 (.615) in the best-of-three finals, including 3 for 4 on Thursday with RBI singles in his first two at-bats.
Arkansas finished as CWS runners-up for the second time, joining the 1979 team, which fell to Cal State Fullerton before the best-ofthree final was instituted.
Arkansas fans are likely to remember the series for a seminal moment, a foul pop up with two outs in the ninth inning on Wednesday that three defenders could not catch down the right- field line. The Razorbacks led 3-2 at the time with ace closer Matt Cronin on the mound, but shortstop Cadyn Grenier capitalized on the extra life with a game- tying single and Trevor Larnach won it 5-3 with a two-run homer.
The Razorbacks shared tears, hugs, back slaps and eventually a few smiles in the postgame locker room.
“Things didn’t go our way today, but that’s life,” senior Luke Bonfield said. “That’s baseball.
“I think if you told anyone at the beginning of the year that we’d be sitting in this spot right now, we would have said, ‘hell of a season.’ Unfortunately we came one game away. But it was a great season.”
Knight, who went 14-0 with two victories at the College World Series said the post- game message was for everyone to keep their heads up.
“I’m just super blessed to be a part of it,” Knight said. “This team is one of a kind.”
Pitching coach Wes Johnson put the finals in perspective. “I think it finished with the two best teams in the country on the field, if you look at total body of work,” he said. “That’s the way the finals are supposed to be.”
The Razorbacks collected their two hits against Abel in the third inning, on a double by Grant Koch and Casey Martin’s infield single. Abel escaped a bases-loaded jam in that inning with a strikeout and ground out, then put it on cruise control.
Abel, who threw one inning Wednesday and 95 pitches in a bracket-clinching victory over Mississippi State on Saturday, won Thursday on 129 pitches. He struck out Bonfield on a 3-2 called third strike to touch off a dogpile just beyond the pitcher’s mound as the Razorbacks looked on in dejection from the first- base dugout.
Arkansas, a team that brought a .302 average into the College World Series, went 14 for 95 (. 147) in the finals.
Oregon State was in record-breaking mode behind Larnach and Rutschman on Thursday as the Beavers set the mark for hits in a single CWS with their 89th in the third inning and finished with 93.
Abel got all the support he needed in the first inning.
The Beavers jumped on Arkansas starter Isaiah Campbell ( 5-7) with two runs in the first as the Hogs looked shaky on defense.
Rutschman had an RBI single go under the glove of third baseman Martin, and Larnach singled and scored on what was ruled a toughplay throwing error by Martin. Campbell came out after facing one batter in the third, allowing 3 runs, 2 of them earned, on 2 hits, 1 walk and a hit batsman.
Oregon State also scored in the third inning when Rutschman followed back-toback walks by Grenier and Larnach with another RBI single to left field. The Beavers expanded their lead to 4-0 on Michael Gretler’s sacrifice fly in the fifth and added a final run in the eighth on Zak Taylor’s RBI single.
The Razorbacks gave credit to Abel.
“He was really special and commanded everything,” Arkansas hitting coach Nate Thompson said. “He threw fastballs in parts of the zone that we couldn’t do much with. Give credit to him. I thought we were competing hard. We just didn’t adapt enough or we didn’t have an answer for it.”
Abel said he didn’t have his best stuff and credited Oregon State for its offensive support.
“This team can hit, that’s for sure,” Abel said.
“His change-up was the best one I’ve seen all year and he threw it great,” shortstop Jax Biggers said. “He mixed both sides of the plate with his fastball and was hitting spots. Everything you want to do as a pitcher, he did it. He was great for them.”
Arkansas second baseman Carson Shaddy said the team’s deflating loss Wednesday did not bleed over into the finale.
“We flipped the switch,” Shaddy said. “We just ran into a good pitcher. He was just keeping us off balance. We couldn’t predict him and his change-up was a plus pitch and he was locating his fastball.”
Bonfield agreed, saying, “nope, no, no” when asked if there was carryover emotion.
“We didn’t let that get us at all,” he said. “I mean it’s just baseball. That’s a good team over there. Oregon State is the best team in the country and they played like it.”