A Look Back: The 2006 National Champions - OSU Beavers

OMAHA, Neb. – The Oregon State baseball team was dominant in 2006, 39 games in the regular season before going 11-2 in the postseason. The Beavers, though, needed a flair for the dramatic to win the program's first national title.

The 2006 Beavers swept through the Corvallis Regional, out-scoring Wright State, Kansas and Hawai'i by a 28-9 combined margin. Oregon State then hosted Stanford and defeated the Cardinal in back-to-back efforts, 4-3 and then 15-0.

Omaha, though, provided a quick road block in the form of Miami. The Hurricanes scored two runs in the first and three in the second en route to an 11-1 win over the Beavers in Oregon State's first game.

That's where the comeback began.

OSU jumped out to a 4-1 lead in its next game to eliminate Georgia, 5-3, then offered some payback to the Hurricanes in an 8-1 win the next day. Shea McFeely went deep to highlight the 13-hit day for the Beavers.

To advance to the championship series, though, the Beavers would need to win four games in as many days.

Challenge accepted. Following the June 19 win over Georgia and June 20 victory over Miami, the Beavers were set to take on the vaunted Rice Owls who had already gone 2-0 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Like we said, challenge accepted.

The Beavers downed Rice, 5-0, in game one, then posted a 1-0 lead in the second inning of game two en route to a 2-0 win. Oregon State's pitchers struck out 14 and held Rice to seven hits, five walks and two hit by pitches in 18 innings of play.

Two days later, the Beavers opened the CWS finals against North Carolina. The Beavers came up short in game one, 4-3, after UNC scored a solo run in the eighth.

Another challenge? You bet. And another challenge accepted.

North Carolina jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 3 ½ innings but the Beavers erupted for a seven-run fourth inning that put them up for good. OSU scored four more in the sixth and held off a Tar Heel rally that netted North Carolina just two runs in the seventh for the 11-7 final.

June 26, 2006

That game two win set up a winner-take-all meeting for the 2006 title. Neither the Beavers nor the Tar Heels had ever won the national championship so it would be a first-time winner. The Beavers were looking to become the first winner from the then-Pac-10 since USC in 1998. Meanwhile, no ACC team had won since Wake Forest in 1955.

Both teams put zeroes on the board through the first three innings. The Beavers, though, broke through with a pair of runs in the fourth. Tyler Graham singled, stole second and then scored when John Wallace reached on a sac bunt and an errant throw. Two batters later, Wallace scored when McFeely singled him in from second.

The Tar Heels netted a pair in their half of the fifth, deadlocking the game at two. It remained that way until the eighth.

The Beavers, as the home team, saw UNC retire the first two batters of the frame. Bill Rowe, however, walked, looking to start a two-out rally. He moved to second when Graham singled to left. That forced the Tar Heels to bring in All-American and future MLB hurler Andrew Miller.

UNC had already committed three errors leading up to the eighth. It was time for a fourth.

Ryan Gipson grounded a pitch from Miller to second baseman Bryan Steed. He came up cleanly with the ball but his throw was errant, got past first baseman Tim Federowicz and that enabled Rowe to come in from second with what would be the game-winning run.

UNC put runners on the corners with two on in the ninth but Oregon State closer Kevin Gunderson got Chad Flack to fly out to Graham to center for out No. 3. And the celebration was on.

Notes on the 2006 title
• Oregon State became the first team from the Pacific Northwest to win the national title, and the first from the northern part of the country to win it in 40 years.
• The Beavers were the first team to ever face six elimination games at the College World Series. And OSU became the first national championship club to win despite losing two games in Omaha.
• Oregon State opened its trip in Omaha by losing to Miami, 11-1. By virtue of that loss, the Beavers became just the second team in the last 25 years to win the title after losing their first game.
• Right-handed starter Jonah Nickerson was named the Most Oustanding Player of the College World Series. He made three CWS appearances, throwing 21 2/3 innings, allowing just four runs (two earned), 12 hits and four walks. Nickerson struck out 19.
• Nickerson ended the postseason with a 4-0 record, winning at least one game in the NCAA Regional, NCAA Super Regional and College World Series. He threw 36 2/3 innings over five games and allowed just 20 hits to go along with 34 strikeouts and a 1.23 ERA.
• Nickerson paced the Oregon State pitching staff, which saw eight pitchers contribute in the postseason run. Only one pitcher had an ERA above 5.00, and the team combined to limit opponents to a .219 batting average.
• Offensively, the Beavers finished with a .302 average as a team through 13 postseason games. Tyler Graham paced the way for the Beavers with a .426 batting average while Bill Rowe was close behind with a .419 mark. His 18 runs batted in led the team.
• Oregon State opened the postseason by hosting an NCAA Regional and the Beavers outscored their opponents - Wright State, Kansas and Hawaii - by a combined 28-9 mark. Oregon State never trailed during regional play.
• The Beavers defeated Stanford, 4-3, to open Super Regional play at Goss in the next round, then shut out the Cardinal, 15-0, in the second game to advance to Omaha. The 15-run win marked the second-biggest in the school's postseason history and was just the second shutout ever thrown, at the time, by OSU pitchers in NCAA play.
• Oregon State advanced to the postseason by winning the Pac-10 title and was named a No. 1 seed at its own regional.
• The Beavers ended the 2006 season with 50 victories, a school-record. It eclipsed the previous record of 46 set in 2005.

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OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).

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