June 25, 2007

OREGON ST 9, NORTH CAROLINA 3
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OMAHA, Nebraska (Ticker) -- Darwin Barney homered and drove in two runs while Scott Santschi recorded a pair of RBI as Oregon State defeated North Carolina, 9-3, to win its second consecutive College World Series title on Sunday.

It was the second straight season that the Beavers defeated the Tar Heels in the CWS, but it was a different scenario than last year. Oregon State lost the first game last season before winning the next two.

This time around, freshman Jorge Reyes threw 6 1/3 strong innings and Jordan Lennerton homered to lead the Beavers to an 11-4 win on Saturday. Reyes, with two wins in Omaha, was named the outstanding player of the CWS, and the Beavers had six players named to the All-Tournament Team.

Mike Stutes (12-4) followed that by throwing 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs and seven hits, as Oregon State became the first team to win back-to-back titles since LSU accomplished the feat in the 1996-97 seasons. OSU has gone 22-3 over the last two NCAA Tournaments, 11-2 with seven straight wins - in the CWS.

"We're the defending national champions and we're put on a pedestal," Barney said. "We have a bullseye on our back. The way this team responded is special. We're a good team on the field, and together. (Coach Pat Casey) knew, and always had trust and belief in our club." The Beavers joined Texas (1949-50) and Southern California (1970-71) as the only teams to follow up consecutive sub-40 win regular seasons with back-to-back national championships.

Casey was a firm believer the comparison's were already in order well before Sunday night.

"We felt like that already," Casey said. "I don't have to convince this team that it's Texas or USC. We don't need to be anybody but who we are and, tonight in Nebraska, we're the best team in the country." Mark Grbavac threw two scoreless innings, struck out Kyle Shelton for the final out of the game and was mobbed by teammates who formed a massive dog pile on the mound.

The third-seeded Beavers became the first team seeded in the lower half of the original NCAA Tournament field to win the CWS in the 20 year-history of the event.

They overcame their seeding by going 11-1 in the NCAA Tournament and winning their last 10 consecutive games, by an aggregate score of 68-26, since a 7-4, 13-inning loss at Virginia June 2.

Oregon State (49-18) also became the first team in history to win a national championship in a season during which they posted a losing conference record (10-14, tie-6th, Pac-10).

The Beavers chased Tar Heels starter Luke Putkonen in the second inning as Barney blasted an 0-1 pitch for a two-run homer to left field for a 3-1 lead after Mitch Canham led off with a single.

The fact that North Carolina coach Mike Fox called on his closer showed desperation with his team facing elimination and Oregon State knew it.

"Any time you can get to the bullpen in the second inning that's good," Wallace said. "We figured he (Andrew Carignan) couldn't go 7 1/3 innings. We got him out of there in the fifth and poured it on from there." Carignan struck out designated hitter Mike Lissman to end the threat. However, Santschi added an RBI single in the third for a 4-1 lead.

Oregon State scored another run on a throwing error by third baseman Chad Flack, and Putkonen (8-2) issued a walk before closer Carignan was called on to put an end to a two-out, first-and-third threat.

North Carolina pulled within 4-2 with an RBI single from Tim Federowicz in the third, but the Beavers put away the contest with two runs in the seventh, stretching a two-run lead to 7-3 with RBI singles from Santschi and Chris Hopkins.

Wallace, who had three RBI, led off the frame with a triple and Santschi plated him with a single through the right side.

Lennerton left no doubt about the outcome by blasting a two-run homer off Rob Wooten in the ninth for a 9-3 lead, the first baseman's team-leading fourth home run of the NCAA Tournament and third of the CWS.

Meanwhile, Dustin Ackley homered and drove in two runs for North Carolina (57-16), which was outscored, 20-7, in the two games.

The Tar Heels became the fifth team defeated in back-to-back CWS finals.

The Tar Heel offense damaged its own chances by failing to hit with runners in scoring position. North Carolina was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position each game against Oregon State and batted .194 (14-72) over seven games in Omaha.

"It seemed like we couldn't get that big hit with runners on base," Fox said. "We didn't take advantage when we needed to.

Whenever we did hit the ball hard it seemed to be right at people."