Beavers rally late, oust Tar Heels
OMAHA, Neb. — Brett Daniels walked in the go-ahead run after Adley Rutschman tied it with a threerun double in the eighth inning, and Oregon State knocked North Carolina out of the College World Series with an 11-6 win Wednesday night.
It was a stunning turnabout after the Tar Heels had wiped out a 3-0 deficit to go up 6-3 in the sixth. North Carolina had been 37-0 when leading after seven innings and had won 50 straight when scoring six runs, the longest streak in Division I.
Tyler Malone hit his second homer of the CWS, and the Beavers’ third of the game, as Oregon State (51-11-1) built a five-run cushion and avenged Saturday’s 8-6 loss to the Tar Heels (44-20).
North Carolina’s eighth-inning meltdown in a steady mist saw three pitchers walk four batters, one intentionally, and allow three hits.
No. 9 batter Zak Taylor started things off with a leadoff single. Nick Madrigal followed with a base hit and Cadyn Grenier won a 12-pitch duel with Joey Lancelotti to walk and load the bases.
Rutschman followed with a drive to the center-field wall off Daniels (6-1) for his bases-clearing double. Daniels then walked two in a row, the first intentionally, to fill the bases again. Daniels ran the count full against Jack Anderson before walking him to force in Rutschman.
Carolina wiped out a 3-0 deficit in the third on Brandon Riley’s two-run double off Luke Heimlich and led 4-3 in the fifth on Ike Freeman’s single. Kyle
Datres’ hooked Christian Chamberlain’s pitch just inside the left-field foul pole, putting the Tar Heels up 6-3 in the sixth.
Jake Mulholland (3-2) pitched three innings of shutout relief for the win.
Heimlich, the two-time Pac12 pitcher of the year, couldn’t make it out of the third inning for a second straight start in Omaha.
Heimlich’s appearance at the CWS had drawn mixed reaction from the public. Last year, he left the team for the super regionals and the CWS after it was revealed he had pleaded guilty to molesting a young relative when he was 15.
The university allowed him to return to the team this year. He served two years’ probation and went through a treatment program but denied wrongdoing in recent interviews with Sports Illustrated and the New York Times.
Oregon State will play Mississippi State in a bracket final. The Beavers would need to win Friday and again Saturday to reach the best-of-three finals.
ARKANSAS 7, TEXAS TECH 4
In Omaha, Neb., Dominic Fletcher went 4 for 4 with a homer and four RBIs and Arkansas pitchers struck out 14 in a 7-4 victory over Texas Tech in the College World Series on Wednesday.
Fletcher doubled in two runs in the first inning, homered in the fourth, had a bunt single in the sixth and singled in a run in the eighth as the Razorbacks won their second game to take control of Bracket 1. They need one more win, Friday or Saturday, to move to the best-of-three finals next week.
Arkansas (46-19) held one of the nation’s top offenses mostly in check. The Red Raiders (45-19) had come into the game scoring 8.2 runs per game and batting .311.