OSU, UNC go for first baseball title

OMAHA, Neb. – North Carolina is known more for its basketball tradition, while Oregon State has made its mark on the football field.

Playing for a national title in baseball? That’s something entirely new for both schools.

“I think it’s neat that these two programs are here, and it speaks to where college baseball is going,” Tar Heels coach Mike Fox said Friday, a day before his team was scheduled to take on the Beavers in the best-of-3 championship round of the College World Series.

The matchup marks the eighth time in CWS history that neither team had won a national title in baseball, and the first since Cal State Fullerton beat Arkansas in 1979.

“There are a lot of great programs out there, and the ball has to bounce the right way a few times,” Fox said. “There are a lot of programs that can get here, even if they aren’t the top-ranked team in the country.”

It’s down to the Tar Heels (53-13) and Beavers (48-15) – who both set school records for wins, but took much different roads to the championship series.

Oregon State was the only team of the eight in Omaha that played in last year’s College World Series, but things didn’t look so promising after an 11-1 rout by Miami last Saturday on the first day of the tournament.

“One thing we talked about after the Miami game was the confidence in who we are and how we played all year long,” coach Pat Casey said. “I don’t think there’s a team that has played in the College World Series that somewhere along the line during the season didn’t have a game where they lost to somebody when they shouldn’t have or played poorly, and we certainly did that at a time we didn’t want to.”

The resilient Beavers bounced back quickly – helped by some impressive pitching performances, including Jonah Nickerson’s two gutty starts in four days.

Oregon State won four straight to reach the championship round from the losers’ bracket.