2007 College World Series

The by|2007 College World Series was held from June 15-24 in Omaha, Nebraska. Eight NCAA Division I college baseball teams met at Rosenblatt Stadium after having played their way through a 64-team bracket.

Oregon State went undefeated through the College World Series, posting a 5-0 record. The Beavers, lead by head coach Pat Casey, won all three games in their four-team bracket and then defeated North Carolina in two games in the best-of-three championship series. Oregon State became the fifth team to win consecutive NCAA titles (last done by LSU in 1996-97), and were the first team to win four games in a CWS by six or more runs. Their opener against Cal State Fullerton was a tight 3-2 victory, but OSU's last four games in the CWS were not close, impressive for a team seeded in the lower half of the 64-team tournament.

The Beavers also became the first team to win the CWS after having posted a losing conference record. Oregon State was a disappointing 10-14 (.417) in the Pac-10, placing sixth among the nine baseball-playing schools (Oregon dropped baseball in 1981, but will revive it in 2009.)

However, the Beavers' non-conference record during the regular season was an impressive 28-3 (.903), and as defending NCAA champions, just enough to gain a berth in the 64-team tournament. They were placed as a #3 seed in one of the 16 four-team regionals, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Oregon State responded by going 11-1 (.917) in the post season. Oregon State won their final 10 games to finish at 49-18 (.731) overall. The Beavers trailed in only one inning of 2007 CWS: the first inning of the final game. Their only loss in the post season came during the second game of regionals, where they fell in 13 innings to host Virginia. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003761384_cws25.html]

Oregon State freshman pitcher Jorge Reyes (of Warden, Washington) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2007 CWS. Reyes was 2-0 as a starter, defeating Cal State Fullerton in the opener and North Carolina in the first game of the finals.

Participants

Notable Players

*Mississippi State: Edward Easley
*Rice: Joe Savery, Danny Lehmann, Aaron Luna, Diego Seastrunk, Cole St.Clair
*North Carolina: Adam Warren, Josh Horton, Andrew Carignan, Dustin Ackley, Chad Flack
*UC-Irvine: Scott Gorgen, Dylan Axelrod, Bryan Peterson, Cody Cipriano
*Cal State-Fullerton: Wesley Roemer, Nick Mahin
*Arizona State: Brett Wallace
*Louisville: Trystan Magnuson, Logan Johnson, Chris Dominguez, Chris Cates
*Oregon State: Edward Kunz, Mitchell Canham, Chris Hopkins, Mike Lissman, Darwin Barney, Jorge Reyes

CWS records tied or broken

*Oregon State became the first team to win four games by six or more runs in the CWS.
*Oregon State became the first team to win the CWS while having a losing record in regular season conference play.
*North Carolina's Rob Wooten pitched in a record 6 games in a single CWS.
*North Carolina tied a CWS record by turning five double plays in game one of the final series against Oregon State. [cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/sports/baseball/24cws.html?ex=1340337600&en=0ac3a8808a77938c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|publisher=New York Times|date=2007-06-24|accessdate=2007-06-26|title=Oregon State One Win From a Second Title]
*North Carolina used a CWS record eight pitchers in its Game 6 loss to Rice.
*Game 7 between UC-Irvine and Cal State-Fullerton went 13 innings and lasted 5 hours and 40 minutes. It was the longest game in terms of time in College World Series history. [cite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/baseball/recap?gameId=2716903001|publisher=ESPNU|date=2007-06-19|accessdate=2007-06-26|title=Student eliminates coaching mentor in Irvine's victory] The game also had the most hit-by-pitches (eight) and reportedly used and lost 96 balls, the most ever. [cite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2908680|publisher=ESPNU|date=2007-06-18|accessdate=2007-06-26|title=Irvine uses a little luck, a lot of baseballs to knock out Cal State Fullerton] The previous record was 84 balls lost.
*Louisville's Logan Johnson tied the CWS record with four home runs.
*By beating Arizona State, UC-Irvine became the first team in CWS history to win two extra-inning games back to back.
*A CWS record number of batters were hit by pitches during the series. [cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_6192373|publisher=Salt Lake Tribue|date=2007-06-21|accessdate=2007-06-26|title=COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: Getting beaned has fast become big hit]

CWS Leaders

Team

Individual

Post-Series Notes

*The championship series featured a rematch of 2006's final, with Oregon State once again defeating North Carolina. The only other time a rematch in the CWS finals occurred was in 1972 and 1973, when USC and Arizona State faced each other; Southern California won both times.

*Following Oregon State's second consecutive national title, the rival University of Oregon announced that it was reviving its intercollegiate baseball program, beginning with the 2009 season. The Duck baseball program was discontinued after the 1981 season due to Title IX considerations. Oregon was the only member of the Pac-10 not to field a baseball team, although an unofficial club team did compete against other club teams. Oregon will drop wrestling and add women's competitive cheerleading [http://oregon.scout.com/2/658519.html]

References

ee also

*2007 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament

External links

* [http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/brackets/doubleelim44/2007/DI_cws NCAA baseball] - official site - CWS results
* [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003761384_cws25.html "The Seattle Times"] - Oregon State champs again - AP - 25-June-2007