Oregon State pulls off miraculous rally in the ninth inning, forces Game 3 with Arkansas
Only 11 teams in College World Series history have dropped their opening game and come all the way back to win the title. One of those teams was Oregon State back in 2006. The Beavers look to accomplish that feat again after beating Arkansas in dramatic fashion Wednesday night, forcing a winner-takes-all game for the National Championship.
The Razorbacks struck first after a wild pitch from Oregon State starter, Bryce Fehmel, bringing in Jared Gates from third base and giving Arkansas a 1-0 lead. Brandon Eisert came in to relieve Fehmel in the 3rd inning and proceeded to strike out five of the six next batters – quickly putting a stop to the Arkansas momentum.
In the fourth inning, Adley Rutschman leveled the score at 1-1 when he ripped a solo home run into the left field bullpen. Rutschman, who is also the kicker for the Oregon State football team, is batting over .400 and now has 81 RBI’s on the season – the most in school history. He also has 14 hits during this year’s College World Series, which is one away from tying the record for “Most Hits By A Player” in the College World Series.
The fifth inning saw the bats come to life from both sides. Zak Taylor and Preston Jones hit back-to-back singles for the Beavers which ended the day for Arkansas starter, Kacey Murphy. Relief pitcher, Jake Reindl, only saw two batters after walking Nick Madrigal and giving up a bunt from Cadyn Grenier. That not only gave up a run, but put Grenier on first. Kole Ramage came in for Reindl and retired the rest of the side, but Oregon State took a 2-1 lead.
The Razorbacks responded in the bottom half of the same inning. Casey Martin and Heston Kjerstad began the inning with singles, and then Luke Bonfield stepped up and ripped a single into left center field and brought Martin in, tying the game at 2-2. Later in the inning, Carson Shaddy hit an RBI-single to put the Razorbacks ahead 3-2 going into the sixth inning.
Coming into the game, Arkansas was 41-2 this season when leading after six innings and 44-0 when leading after eight innings. However, the Razorbacks were not prepared for Oregon State’s ninth inning.
Matt Cronin was coming off of one day of rest after setting the Arkansas school-record for single-season saves in last night’s game. However, his infamous fastball wasn’t looking the same as it always has. After walking Zak Taylor, Cronin forced two-straight groundouts and was down to his last strike from closing the game out and winning the school’s first College World Series.
Cadyn Greiner stepped up with two outs. With a one-ball-one-strike count, Greiner fouled a pitch off down the first base line. A miscommunication between Arkansas’ Jared Gates, Carson Shaddy, and Eric Cole caused a potentially game-ending routine fly ball to not be caught, thus giving Oregon State another chance and a second life.
A few pitches later, Greiner ripped the game-tying single into left field putting the score at 3-3. The sea of Arkansas fans at TD Ameritrade were still stunned from the Greiner RBI-single, and then Trevor Larnach stepped into the box. Larnach blasted a shot into the right field general admission, knocking in Greiner, and giving the Beavers a 5-3 lead. Arkansas went from being inches away from the championship trophy to being down two runs going into the bottom half of the ninth.
Jax Biggers gave Razorback fans hope when he started the inning off with a single, but an Eric Cole strikeout and a ground ball that turned into a double-play would wrap up this instant classic with Oregon State winning 5-3.
Cadyn Grenier went 3-5 with two RBI’s, with Adley Rutschman and Trevor Larnach each getting home runs for Oregon State. Luke Bonfield and Carson Shaddy each went 2-4 with an RBI for Arkansas.
The winner-takes-all game that will decide the next College World Series Champion will take place Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Written by Matt Kirkle
