For the second straight year , the Oregon State University Beavers and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels will be meeting in the best of three games, Championship Series of the College World Series. Games One and Two will be played Saturday and Sunday night with first pitch at 7 p.m. at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com see Game-One as an even match-up installing both Oregon State and North Carolina with -115 betting odds.
Oregon State won the 2006 National Championship in a series against the Tar Heels that went the distance with OSU taking a 3-2 win on an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Tar Heels have made it to the Championship Series the hard way, by progressing through the loser’s bracket while facing elimination in each game. The Tar Heels survived their first game by defeating Mississippi State 8-5 but got pounded by the Rice Owls 14-4 in their second game. Following a 3-1 win over Louisville, the Heels would have to beat the Rice Owls twice to progress to the championship round.
On Wednesday, North Carolina downed the Owls 6-1 behind the solid pitching of Robert Woodard whom allowed just a run on five hits over 6 2/3 innings. The Tar Heels completed their mission against Rice by beating the Owls 7-4 Thursday night, leaving just one more goal yet to be checked off. Fittingly, UNC will get another crack at defending national champion Oregon State.
The Beavers went unbeaten in the pre-championship CWS rounds by defeating Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State and UC-Irvine.
"I’m very happy to get to the championship game again," OSU head coach Pat Casey said after the Beavers reached the finals by beating California-Irvine 7-1 on Wednesday. "I don’t know what the odds were of doing this three weeks ago. I’m just happy for the guys. It was a great team effort. UC-Irvine is a tremendous club. We’re another step closer to what we want to do every year."
OSU is trying to become the first back-to-back national champion since Louisiana State in 1996 and 1997. The championship rematch is the first at the College World Series since Southern California and Arizona State battled in both 1972 and 1973.
