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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend June 4, 2005 Beavers found themselves in unfamiliar territory By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune CORVALLIS — It wouldn’t have been at all surprising to walk into the stadium in the seventh inning, see the OSU players at the top of the dugout steps, smiling, sometimes laughing and obviously enjoying their lead. Quite the opposite unfolded on the other side: frustration, mistakes, self-doubt. The problem with this picture is that it was the wrong OSU in the rollicking good spirits. Ohio State, not Oregon State. Make no mistake, there clearly was a feeling of superiority among Beaver faithful. Their team was ranked No. 2 in the country heading into the four-team NCAA baseball regional it was hosting, had won the championship of the vaunted Pac-10 Conference and was without question the best-armed team in a pitching-rich pool. Advertisement After they trotted out All-American Dallas Buck in Friday’s opener against the Buckeyes, they still had two starters to turn to with a combined 18-2 record. Add to that the result of the first game, in which supposed weak-link St. John’s upset the supposed second-best team, Virginia, using its all-star closer in a starter’s role, thereby rendering him useless for a matchup today and, well, Oregon State was inching toward sure-thing status. But there was that scene in the seventh inning. Only when the Ohio State players went silent did the Beavers’ predicament come to light. You could hear an aluminum bat drop in packed Goss Stadium. Then the strangest things began to happen. And I’m not talking only about Shea McFeely’s first-pitch home run in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave Oregon State a walk-off, 4-3 victory. A moment like that doesn’t need build up. This one got it anyway. In spades. The Beavers had seemingly hit rock bottom, which is both a suitable clich� to describe the fans’ depth of despair and a dramatic place for the Beavers to start an electrifying rise. Remember, Buck is among the very best in the country. He entered with an 11-1 record and 1.93 ERA. But, trailing 3-2, he got wild in the eighth and had runners at third and second with one out when Kevin Gunderson relieved him. Gunderson worked out of the jam, snapping the orange-festooned crowd from its doldrums. The Beavers sent the top of their lineup to plate in the bottom of the eighth, and that meant Jacoby Ellsbury, the Pac-10 co-player of the year. A cheer went up, drawn out and rhythmically augmented with clapping: "Let’s go Beavers, let’s go Beavers." Your hear this in football, not baseball. When Ellsbury rocketed a pitch halfway up the center-field wall, it was as if the New Year’s ball had dropped. Yet even the spectators’ thunderous reaction couldn’t drowned out the long, loud, repetitive whistle of a train rolling into view just past the outfield fence. Seriously. It was like it was planned. Some places shoot off canons. Some places send a mascot sliding into a mug of beer. The Beavers hire a train to come through. Or so it seemed because it was being pulled by three bright orange engines. There was very much a sense that Roy Hobbs had just batted. Ellsbury would score to tie it, Gunderson would shut down Ohio State in the ninth, and McFeely — naturally a guy who had struck out in his previous two at-bats, taking first-pitch strikes — would blast one over the left-field wall as scorers were still flipping over the pages of their scorebooks. The overriding sense was that Oregon State averted disaster in this fairytale season that isn’t supposed to end this weekend. "Somehow," said coach Pat Casey, alluding to many fortitude-testing comebacks, "we find ways down here to win. We don’t quit." He would go on to call his players "warriors" and praise them as the hardest working — but not necessarily the most talented — group he’s had. That said, Casey must have understood what the fans felt, why they expect so much of the Beavers. With this first postseason contest and its inherent jitters out of the way, said Casey, "I hope our guys feel like, ‘We’re the Pac-10 champs. We’re going to play as hard and as aggressive as we can play, and if we don’t win all our games, we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing.’" It should be noted the OSU didn’t get a slouch in Ohio State. The Buckeyes had won 19 of 22 games coming in, including the Big Ten tournament. They’ve been to the regionals four of the past five years and 11 times since 1991. Oregon State, meanwhile, was playing for the first time in two weeks and making its first regional appearance in 19 years. "Early in the game," said Casey, "we were chasing pitches we normally don’t chase. We talked beforehand about not feeling the pressure, but you have to go through it once. "We’ve gone through it now, and our guys liked it." The Beavers had staked Buck to a 2-0 lead when catcher Mitch Canham homered with a man on in the second inning. But they didn’t capitalize on other chances, and Ohio State wasn’t about to surrender. Ohio State coach Bob Todd’s team made Buck work to throw strikes. "We didn’t want to help him," said Todd, noting that the Buckeyes’ patience at the plate had an impact later as Buck’s pitch count rose. Buck admitted he didn’t pitch as well as he’s capable but disputed the notion his composure frayed. "I don’t know about that," he said. "I’m usually pretty frustrated if I’m falling behind. But if it’s a tight zone, you have to throw strikes." He may well get another chance. Stranger things have happened. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] . 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