The college world series wrapped up on Thursday with the Oregon State Beavers taking the championship from the Arkansas Razorbacks in a thrilling three-game set. It was a series that intrigued many, some of it in a good way, some in a bad way, and well some in an ugly way that put all college baseball fans on the edge of their seats in those three games.
Kevin Abel was sensational for Oregon State
The Good: Kevin Abel- Wow was this kid dynamite, not only did he pitch in one inning of Game 2 and was lethal, but this kid managed to have a complete game shutout in Game 3 against one of the most dynamite offenses in the College World Series. Coming into Game 3, players like Dominic Fletcher were hitting .292 in the College World series against opponents, and yet somehow Abel was able to shut them down, and rather impressively… Trevor Larnach- talk about a clutch hitter; if it wasn’t for him hitting a 2-run homer in the 9th after coming back to tie it, this game may have gone a little differently for Oregon State. This hit showed how much of a resilient ball club Oregon state truly was, and it was something special.
Blaine Knight- Game 1 proved that he was well worthy of a 3rd round draft pick. Knight pitched 6 innings and only gave up one run to a lethal Oregon State offense that was coming off of six elimination games wins. Watch out MLB, this kid is going to be good when he comes up to the Majors.
The Bad: Everyone else but Kevin Abel- Luke Hemlich the supposed ace of the Oregon State staff in his 3 college world series starts barely made it past the 4th inning on a lucky day. Bryce Fehmel wasn’t much better than Hemlich was only going 2.1 innings pitched in game 2…. Nick Madrigal: the 1st round draft pick of the Chicago White sox went for a combined 1 for 13 in 3 games with a paltry 0 for 5… not the best time to falter there.
The Ugly: Arkansas in the top of the 9th inning- whether it was just nerves or the thought of “oh my goodness we are one out away from taking it all” that missed fly ball turned out to be just as catastrophic as the 2011 world series Game 6 for the Texas Rangers. If it wasn’t for that pop-up, then things would be totally different for Arkansas…. Arkansas’s offense… Yes, Kevin Abel is a fantastic pitcher but Arkansas’s offense was still totally abysmal not only getting shutout, but just not showing up at all in Game 3.
Whether you are an Oregon State fan or an Arkansas fan you can’t argue that this series was one to remember; between fantastic pitching, and a missed popup for the ages it was one to watch. It had all the drama, fantastic pitching, and clutch hits which kept fans on the edge of their seats. Cheers to next year being just as good if not better than this year.
