Oregon State became the first team in a decade to repeat as College World Series champion, helping to secure the pac-10’s historical dominance over college baseball.
This year was a much easier path than a year ago, when Oregon State lost its CWS opener 11-1 to Miami. The Beavers staved off elimination four straight times to make it to the finals against North Carolina. They came back from a loss in Game 1 to win the title. Last year was all about comebacks and long shots. This year was defined by domination… but not at first. The Beavers were nearly left out of the 64-team national tournament field after struggling in the Pacific-10 Conference. But they finished the season with 10 straight wins and became the first to win four CWS games by six runs or more. OSU also carried a streak of 61 straight innings of not trailing in a game this year, going back to June 5 against Virginia in the last game of the regional. The prospects once again seemed unlikely heading into the tourney, but the beavers seemed to simply find a way to win.
As if the Baseball program wasn’t enough to be excited about lets consider the football team. But before rejoicing in the success of last season, before discussing the amazing nail-biter victories over such teams as USC, Oregon, and Missouri, before discussing the great players who are returning, we must first take a painful trip down memory lane. It is said that to avoid repeating our past mistakes we must remember them…
The score was 15-7, the beavers leading #3 ranked LSU in the fourth quarter. Derrick Anderson had just thrown a TD and Alexis Serna was jogging out onto the field to essentially ice the game with an extra point. BUT HE PUSHES IT! His second missed EP of the game, allowing LSU time to march down the field and tie the game. In overtime down 15-22, Derek Anderson, who was 26-of-47 for 231 yards and three TDs, found tight end Joe Newton on 4th-and-4 for a 19-yard TD, and the game appeared headed to a second overtime. But Serna, who pushed his first two extra points right, did so again, ending Oregon State's upset hopes. He threw his helmet, then dropped to his knees and began ripping up grass from the soggy field in anger.
To all the loyal beaver fans that feel my lingering pain from that moment, take a deep breath. The painful stories are over with. Instead lets reminisce about the comeback victory in the Sun Bowl. The Beavers (10-4) trailed Missouri by 14 points with 12:08 to go before rallying for their eighth victory in nine games. The victory was the latest in a series of nail-biters for Oregon State, which beat Hawaii and Oregon by a combined five points in the last two regular-season games. Many fans feel that this Civil War rivaled the best ever played. The Beavers' biggest triumph was a 33-31 stunner over then-No. 3 Southern California on Oct. 28.
This years squad is looking quite impressive as well. OSU is rated #24 in the country in pre-season polls thanks largely due to several key players who are returning, such as Offensive lineman Jeremy Perry, Running Back Yvenson Bernard, and Wide Receiver Sammie Stroughter. With the outstanding initial impressions of this years defense combined with the completion of the “Raising Reser” project this college football season is shaping up to be very exciting once again for Beavers fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment