2018 College World Series: Oregon State wins third national title as freshman throws shutout
Kevin Abel twirled a gem for the Beavers
The 2018 NCAA College World Series concluded on Thursday, with the Oregon State Beavers topping the Arkansas Razorbacks 5-0 to win their first national championship since 2007, and the third in school history.
The Beavers, who came from behind in the ninth inning of the second game of the best-of-three series, jumped ahead early by scoring a pair of first-inning runs. Sophomore catcher Adley Rutschman opened the scoring as part of a three-hit night. Oregon State's other run came on a two-out throwing error.
Rutschman would drive in another run later on before scoring the Beavers' fourth run of the night. (Run No. 5 came in the eighth inning on a Zak Taylor RBI single.) Busy man, that backstop. His name will be in the record books for other reasons, too:
Adley Rutschman now has 13 RBI this CWS, tied with USC's Robb Gorr in 1998 for 2nd-most in a single CWS.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 29, 2018
Rutschman is also the first player with 17 hits in a single College World Series. pic.twitter.com/A2U91sefmA
The other star of the night for Oregon State was starting pitcher Kevin Abel. A freshman from San Diego, California, Abel threw a two-hit shutout. He walked two and fanned 10 while throwing 129 pitches, with 82 of them registering as strikes. He also became the first pitcher to ever win four games in the College World Series. To think, Abel did this a night after throwing 23 pitches in an inning in relief.
For Arkansas, it's a disappointing end to a fantastic season that is no doubt made worse by by a blown win in Game 2. The Razorbacks have never won a national title in baseball.
















