After nearly a month of postseason college baseball, we have our final two teams for the 2018 College World Series in Arkansas and Oregon State.
As I tweeted after the Beavers clinched their spot on Saturday night, I think we truly have the two best teams in the country in the finals, and that doesn’t always happen in baseball.
This should be a very entertaining series between two very talented teams. I’ll quickly break down each team and then give you my prediction.
Arkansas 47-19
Arkansas beat Texas 11-5 Sunday at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. on June 17, 2018. (Photo by Michelle Bishop)
How they got here: After going 21-12 in the SEC, the Razorbacks earned a fifth overall seed entering the tournament. They breezed through the regionals beating Oral Roberts, Southern Miss, and Dallas Baptist. They split the first two games with South Carolina in the super regionals before blowing them out in game three to advance to the College World Series. In Omaha they’ve taken down Texas 11-5, Texas Tech 7-4, and Florida 5-2 to advance to the finals.
Players to Watch: The easy thing to do here is to say everyone in their lineup as it seems someone different gets it done every game. The two freshman, Casey Martin (.357) and Heston Kjerstad (.337), lead the team in hitting. Kjerstad also leads them with 14 home runs and 57 RBI. Carson Shaddy has had a huge postseason and has 13 home runs and 54 RBI on the year.
On the mound, Blaine Knight (2.88), Kacey Murphy (3.15), Isaiah Campbell (4.12), Barrett Loseke (2.86), and Matt Cronin (3.15) are their top arms. Knight and Murphy will likely start games one and two respectively with Campbell available to start game three.
Keys to Win: I’ve been saying all year that Arkansas has the deepest lineup in the country, and they’ll need that lineup to come through against Oregon State. The Beavers starting pitching hasn’t been great in Omaha, and Arkansas has the bats to jump on them early. And as bad as OSU’s starting pitching has been, their bullpen has been great, so the Razorbacks need to get on them early. Not only do they need to score early, they need to put them away. The Beavers also are very deep and believe they can come back from any deficit.
I know it’s obvious, but Blaine Knight has to set the tone in game one. If he can give you a dominant, seven-inning out that leads to an Arkansas win, that will go a long way in giving this young Arkansas team some confidence.
Oregon State 53-11-1
Oregon State eliminated UNC with an 11-6 win Wednesday night at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. on June 20, 2018. (Photo by Michelle Bishop)
How they got here: Like Arkansas, they blasted through their regional beating Northwestern State and LSU twice. The Beavers also cruised through the supers with 8-1 and 6-3 wins over Minnesota. But then they slipped up in their first game of the College World Series losing 8-6 to North Carolina. But they’ve been on fire since then beating Washington 14-5, North Carolina 11-6, Mississippi State 12-2, 5-2. They were losing after the fifth to Washington and after the seventh to North Carolina before coming back to win.
Players to Watch: The Oregon State lineup is equally as powerful as Arkansas’ with Adley Rutschman (.397) and Nick Madrigal (.395). Trevor Larnach brings the power with 18 home runs and 75 RBI. Center fielder Steven Kwan (.359) was injured early in the College World Series, but if he can come back to at least hit that would be a huge boost to this already powerful lineup.
Starters Luke Heimlich (2.80) and Bryce Fehmel (3.16) have not pitched like they’re capable in this tournament, but maybe they’ve been saving it for the finals. Heimlich has struck out 154 batters in 125.1 innings pitched this year. Kevin Abel (3.28) has been huge for the Beavers in the College World Series and could be used as a third starter if he isn’t needed out of the bullpen in games one and two. Jake Mulholland (2.25) is another good arm out of the bullpen.
Keys to Win: The key for Oregon State is pretty obvious, they need to get longer outings from their starters. Until Saturday night’s win over Mississippi State, no starter had recorded an out in the fifth inning for Oregon State. If Heimlich and Fehmel can go deep into games and limit the damage to the Arkansas offense, they’ll be in good shape.
The offense just needs to keep doing what they’ve been doing, and that’s constantly putting together good at-bats. They’ve done a great job in this College World Series of wearing down opposing pitchers until they make mistakes. Once that happens, this offense will explode quickly.
Prediction:
Again, I honestly think these are the two best teams in the country, and I’m expecting to see a great series — hopefully three games. Both of these lineups are very deep, so there is a chance we could see some high-scoring games.
I give the edge to Oregon State in this series because of their experience. I picked them to win it all at the beginning of the season, and I’m sticking by that selection.
Winner: Oregon State
