Oregon State Baseball Team Looks to Repeat

As Michigan Wolverine pitcher, Mike Wilson, walked in Oregon State Beavers(OSU) batter Chris Hopkins for the first run in last Monday's game, you could see that OSU had the game won.

Three more runs eventually scored in the second inning as the Beavers jumped to a 4-0 lead. They went on the win the game 8-2, and advance to the College World Series for the third straight year.

This years Beavers had a bit of a struggle during the season but return as a favorite. Oregon State finished the year with a record of 44-18 but finished sixth in a crowded Pac-10 conference race.

An at- large bid brought the team to the regionals which had Virginia and Rutgers in it. OSU defeated both teams twice and then went on to face Michigan.

The Wolverines outlasted top ranked Vanderbilt in the regionals and looked like a team to beat. But Oregon State behind the pitching of Jorge Reyes, Mike Stutes, and Joe Patterson dominated the Wolverines bats en route to a two game sweep.

OSU catcher Mike Canham strongly doubts anyone calling this team a favorite.

"I don't think that anyone would ever put us as favorites going into Omaha. I think that being out here, way on the West Coast, in Oregon, everyone's going to keep doubting us," Canham said. "But for the past three years we've been going back there every year, and last year we blew up the scene and made everyone really know who Oregon State was."

Many of last year's players from the Cinderella squad that won the championship are gone due to graduation. But the replacements have come in and played well. One of those is freshman pitcher Reyes.

"It's fun," Reyes said. "It's really nice. I don't know about these guys, but this is exactly what I played for - to see all these little kids running around and seeing us as role models was really cool. When I first got here, it was like ... I went to a couple of Babe Ruth World Series, but nothing like this at all. What's the sign say? 'The Greatest Show On Dirt' - it really is."

And other Beavers like starting shortstop Darwin Barney know what it takes to win the big game. Barney is one of a handful of players who have played in all three visits to Omaha.