The Oregon State Beavers baseball team did something no other college team has done in a decade and that is win back-to-back College World Series championships after a 9-3 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels in Game-Two of the Championship Series on Sunday night.
The Beavers (49-18) were not a favorite to win the CWS but cashed in all five games played including a sweep of the Tar Heels in the best-of-three finals, and trailed for only one of 45 innings they played in Omaha.
The Tar Heels will probably have little desire to tangle with the Beavers in the future having to be CWS runner-up’s to the Beavers for the second consecutive year. OSU is the first back-to-back champion since LSU in 1996-97 and the fifth overall.
Darwin Barney's two-run homer gave the Beavers the lead in the second inning of the decisive game. Jordan Lennerton hit his second homer in two nights, a two-run shot in the eighth.
The Tar Heels (57-16) didn't get much going against Oregon State's steady pitching and solid defense, and were shut down whenever they appeared on the verge of a big inning.
Mark Grbavac and Joe Paterson combined to retire the last seven North Carolina batters. Paterson got a called third strike against pinch-hitter Kyle Shelton to end the game and send the Beavers sprinting out of their dugout.
The Beavers knocked out North Carolina starter Luke Putkonen (8-2) in the second inning after Barney lined a pitch over the left-field wall. Another run scored on third baseman Chad Flack's throwing error.
“All I can think about right now is what just happened between those lines,” Barney said. “The men that we brought together and that I’ve been with since September, that’s what’s most special to me right now. The past three years of my career, it’s been fun, but right now it’s all about the team, and it’s about every single one of these guys contributing today. Even the guys that didn’t get into the game, they’re right there on the top step feeding us in as we come in from the field.”
“What an unbelievable accomplishment that is to win back-to-back national championships,” North Carolina coach Mike Fox said. “I’m not sure you can ever say never, but I’m not sure that’s going to be done here too many times at this level, as many good teams are there are.
Freshman, right hander Jorge Reyes, was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player after starting and winning Oregon State’s opener against Cal State Fullerton and its CWS
