Oregon State rallies to blast Huskies 14-5 at CWS
OMAHA, Neb. — Kyle Nobach hit a three-run homer to put Oregon State in control in the seventh inning, Kevin Abel pitched four strong innings of relief and Oregon State sent Pac12 rival Washington home from the College World Series with a 14-5 win on Monday night.
The Beavers erased early deficits, starting their comeback just before a 4-hour, 31-minute weather delay and picking up where they left off when play resumed.
Oregon State (50-11-1), the No. 3 national seed, was coming off a loss to North Carolina in its CWS opener and still must win three more games to reach the best-of-three finals. Washington (35-26) went two games and out in its first CWS.
Washington had leads of 3-0 and 5-4 before the teams were pulled off the field with lightning near TD Ameritrade Park in the top of the sixth inning. The Beavers had bases loaded with two outs when play was stopped. Washington sent out closer Alex Hardy (5-4), the fourth of seven Huskies pitchers, after the delay and he walked in the tying run.
The Huskies elected to intentionally walk Adley Rutschman to set up forces on the bases with two outs in the seventh. Michael Gretler smashed a ball down the left-field line for the tiebreaking double, and Nobach hit a 2-2 pitch that barely cleared the wall in right center for his sixth homer of the season and a 9-5 lead.
Oregon State scored all but one of its runs with two outs. The Beavers were 13-for-21 with two outs and 7-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Tyler Malone homered to start a five-run eighth inning that finished off the Huskies.
Beavers starter Bryce Fehmel turned the game over Kevin Abel after giving up a single to start the fifth. Abel (5-1) threw 17 pitches before the delay, and coach Pat Casey opted to have him go back to the mound when play resumed. Abel allowed one run on one hit and two walks. He struck out five.
Oregon State avoided going 0-2 at a CWS for the first time in five appearances since 2005.
Game rescheduled
The NCAA postponed the North Carolina-Mississippi State game at the College World Series until this morning.
The elimination game between Oregon State and Washington on Monday was interrupted for 4 hours, 31 minutes in the sixth inning because of storms in the Omaha area. A threat of more rain Monday night, plus the possibility of a late start time, led the NCAA to reschedule North Carolina-Mississippi State.
Three games are now set for today. Texas will play Florida in an elimination game in the afternoon, and Arkansas faces Texas Tech in a Bracket 2 winners’ game tonight.