After 60 games, two postseason tournaments, one spring hot streak and too many twists and turns to count, it’s come down to this for the Oregon State Beavers:
Win or go home.
The Beavers lived to fight another day during a marathon Sunday at the Baton Rouge Regional, rebounding from a stinging loss to LSU to defeat the Sam Houston Bearkats 3-1 in an elimination game at Alex Box Stadium.
The season-saving win, which did not end until after midnight central time early Monday morning, set up a do-or-die doubleheader with the Tigers. To avoid elimination, the Beavers will not only need to beat the LSU Tigers in the opener — scheduled for 11 a.m. — but also beat them in the nightcap, earning three regional victories in less than 24 hours.
“It’s definitely going to be tough,” outfielder Brady Kasper said. “We’ve got to win two against one of the best teams in the country. But every guy in our dugout believes we’re the best team in the country. So now we’re just going to come out and play our game and try to prove it.”
The Beavers are facing this scenario because of one tough loss and two maddening weather delays, which wreaked havoc on the regional schedule.
Oregon State and LSU were originally scheduled to play Saturday night. But a lightning storm delayed and eventually postponed play on Saturday, forcing the teams to meet Sunday afternoon, with the winner advancing to the Regional Final on Monday and the loser falling to an elimination game against Sam Houston on Sunday night.
Things started well for second-seeded Oregon State, as Travis Bazzana blasted a home run to right field in the third inning to give the Beavers a 1-0 lead and silence 11,075 at Alex Box. But a few minutes later, another crash of lightning came in the area, halting play for the second day in a row. The rain tarps came out on the infield, fans scurried inside the concourse and players bailed from the dugouts as the delay stretched three hours, three minutes long.
The Beavers spent the duration of the time in the Tigers’ Hall of Fame room, which houses the school’s championship trophies and other hardware, and plays television highlights of their championship seasons on an endless loop. After spending several hours in there Sunday waiting out lightning, they spent another three hour on Monday during the storm, watching other regional matchups, listening to those championship highlights and staring at those sparkling trophies.
It was almost subtle taunting by the host team.
“That’s what I was saying,” Kasper said. “I was like, ‘They definitely put us in here on purpose.”
Initially, it didn’t have much of an affect. The Beavers struck first after the delay, extending their lead to 3-0 in the fourth thanks to a Kasper solo home run and a Bazzana run-scoring infield single. But the lead didn’t last.
The Tigers’ powerful offense finally erupted in the bottom of the fourth, when Dylan Crews belted a two-run home run to trim Oregon State’s lead to 3-2. LSU went on to blast four more home runs, including a go-ahead solo shot from Brayden Jobert in the eighth that proved to be the difference.
“It was a long one,” Kasper said. “But even when the thunderstorm came around and we had to sit around a little bit, I thought we did a really good job of staying locked in. We knew we were going to come out and it was going to be a dogfight. They’re a really good team. We’re a really good team. I think we played really well. It just went their way today.”
After a three-hour, 28-minute game and a three-hour, three-minute weather delay, the Beavers had roughly an hour to recuperate before doing it all over against Sam Houston.
The nightcap was sluggish and lacked energy from the get-go, but the Beavers persevered thanks to a sensational outing from freshman reliever Aiden Jimenez, a pair of timely run-scoring hits in the fourth inning and another save from closer Ryan Brown.
Jimenez (5-2) entered the game in third inning and pitched a career-high six innings, striking out six and allowing just three runs in a dominant performance. He kept the Bearkats (39-25) off balance with location and pitch selection, but his sinker was especially electric, repeatedly sneaking under Sam Houston bats.
“I talked to (catcher Tanner) Smith and he said his ball was just dropping off the table,” OSU coach Mitch Canham said.
As Jimenez cruised, Mikey Kane and Kasper delivered all the offense Oregon State would need with a pair of timely fourth inning hits. Kane smacked a bloop double down the right field line to score Micah McDowell and tie the game 1-1. And one batter later, Kasper ripped a single to right to scored Gavin Turley and Kane. The Beavers only had six hits, and four of them came in the inning.
The Bearkats threatened in the bottom of the ninth, putting runners on the corners with two outs. But Brown ended the threat with a game-sealing flyout to earn his 11th save and keep the Beavers (41-19) alive.
Turley finished the doubleheader with three hits, two RBIs, a home run and a double, Kasper had three hits and three RBIs, Garret Forrester had four hits and two walks, and Bazzana had two hits, two RBIs and a homer.
In the end, it added up to a win, a loss and an opportunity to do the improbable and beat the No. 5 national seed — twice — in their stadium to move on to the super regionals.
And while that might seem like a daunting task, the Beavers left the stadium in the wee hours Monday morning with confidence and resolve, knowing that this is hardly their first time dealing with adversity.
The March slump. The Stanford sweep. The Arizona State gut punch. The series-opening loss at Oregon. The starting pitching injuries.
The Beavers have responded to every twist and turn sent their way this season. And as they prepared for perhaps their greatest challenge yet — returning to the field less than 12 hours after a marathon Sunday to confront yet another one — they were eager for the challenge.
“It’s been done before,” Canham said. “We’ve done it before at Oregon State. Other teams have done it before. What a great opportunity we have. You know you’re going to go all out, because at the end of the day, you’re packing your bags tomorrow. You’re either going to leave happy or you’re going to leave sad. I think they’ll ring the bell for that. It’s not going to be easy, there’s no doubt about that.
“But we don’t need to mope about it. We could not be here in this position. But we get to be. These guys have worked hard to be here. So I’m excited to see what tomorrow can bring, because I know what they’re capable of.”
Joe Freeman reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
— jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
