Progressing Well: The Oregon Baseball Beavers have entered, added a new jersey, and…
The Oregon State baseball team gathered in the Omaha Room at Goss Stadium on Monday morning to watch the drama unfold as its postseason fate was revealed live on national television.
The doors and windows were thrown open, letting the perfect 75-degree morning sun stream into the suite. TVs were switched to ESPN2 to watch the NCAA Baseball Tournament field being announced, regional by regional. As they ate their breakfast, players and staff looked on nervously.
Ancelotti says, “I am not worried because we have a spectacular squad and now Mbappe.”Ancelotti says, “I am not worried because we have a spectacular squad and now Mbappe.”
The room erupted in a roar of excitement when “Oregon State” finally appeared on the screens halfway through the selection special.
With a No. 2 seed in the Fort Worth Regional, the Beavers had allayed fears about a drab May and guaranteed that Texas would be on their route to the College World Series.
However, something odd transpired following the festivities.
“It seemed like everyone was prepared to leave the room,” stated Mitch Canham, the coach of OSU. “They desired to visit the weight room and go to practice.” They were eager to get to work as soon as they knew where they were going.
If there was a theme emanating from Corvallis on Monday, it would be that the real work has started and the ups and downs of the regular season, along with all the heartache of May, are history. Sure, Oregon State did lose eight players.
final three series of the regular season and lost its final 11 games. Indeed, the Beavers (34-22, 16-14) tied for fifth place in the Pac-12 Conference and concluded the season unranked in the national polls.
However, that was so May. It is just a part of the process.
Catcher Troy Claunch gave a firm response when asked how the team has been impacted by its late-season struggles: “They don’t.”
Claunch characterized the Beavers’ postseason berth as “a kickstart, a sense of relief, and excitement.” “Now is the time to leave. That is what counts now that we are formally in. As I have said before, the 56 games are history, and our game on Friday is what matters.
Indeed, according to Kevin Abel, the Beavers’ quest for a College World Series title now rests on their ability to move past the slump of the late season.
Abel remarked, “I think it is just letting go.” It goes without saying that we did not get the regular season we desired. We wanted to be one of those host sites going forward.
As a result, I believe that because we were not living up to that standard, we all felt a little under pressure. Now, though, nobody is 0-0. We can move past that now that the season has started, and our goal is to win as many games as we can while losing as few as possible. We will see if we can play that way for a few weeks because we work well with our backs to the wall and our bags packed.
