OMAHA, Neb. — It was all falling right for Arkansas. They had dodged Oregon State's best shots for two days. For a few seconds it looked like it was going to fall right again.
Cadyn Grenier lost a battle with Arkansas closer Matt Cronin, the school's all-time best closer. Grenier waved at strike three to stay alive and lifted a foul pop the opposite way.
A 3-2 Arkansas victory was there for the taking Wednesday night. A national championship was twisting high in foul territory well beyond the first base line with three Razorbacks racing under it.
Unfortunately, that foul pop fell harmlessly to the ground. Oregon State rallied to win, 5-3, sucking the life out of the huge Arkansas crowd at TD Ameritrade Park.
Oregon State took advantage with two straight gut punches to force a rubber match championship game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
It was a heartbreaker, perhaps as tough as anything Razorback fans have seen in such a high-profile setting since the 1969 Big Shootout, a game Arkansas led 14-0 only to lose 15-14 to Texas with the entire nation watching.
How much of the nation followed along on ESPN on Wednesday night is not yet clear, but all of Razorback Nation seemed geared up for a party. There were as many as 15,000 in red at TD Ameritrade, plus more who couldn't get into the sold-out stadium. Baum Stadium had another throng of 3,000 or so ready to party. Dickson Street was probably about to erupt.
But, the Beavers fought back from the brink of elimination for the third time in Omaha. Beaten 4-1 on Tuesday, they stayed alive with a three-run rally in the ninth to silence an Arkansas championship party. They won with three runs in the top of the ninth, thwarting Cronin's bid for a five-out save just when it appeared it was done.
Grenier lined an RBI single to left on the next pitch, then Trevor Larnach followed with a two-run homer. The Hogs got a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth, but were shut down by OSU closer Jake Mulholland.
The man with the best shot of it Grenier's foul pop was Carson Shaddy. The first team All-SEC second baseman listened for a call from either Eric Cole, the right fielder, or Jared Gates, the first baseman.
It never came and just as he reached up, Shaddy realized he'd overrun it by a good 4 feet. He reached back but caught only air.
“It's a tough play,” Shaddy said at the post-game media briefing. “I was running and didn't hear anyone call it. I kept running. I overran it.”
Deeper in the interview, someone set up the scenario with the Hogs on the verge of winning the national title.
“It looked like it was right there for us,” Shaddy said.
Later in the locker room, there was another chance to discuss the chase for the pop up. Did he have the best angle?
“I overran it,” Shaddy said. “I'm not worried about it.”
Then, he looked away from reporters probably upset with the result and the repeat questions. There were stares at the floor all around the locker room. All the Razorbacks knew what had just happened, that just when they thought it was their year of destiny, perhaps it looks more like it's Oregon State's time.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn covered it before anyone could ask a question in the media room.
“It's a tough loss,” he said. “What do you do? You got a chance to play for a national championship and you fight through it.”
Shaddy said the Hogs will do just that. He said their bats have been too silent for the two games against the Beavers with just five hits in game one and seven on Wednesday night.
“We have to come out and play the game we've been playing,” Shaddy said. “We still have not put together our best day with the bats.”
Van Horn added later, “I think we have to swing the bats better. We've been relying on our pitching. We just didn't score enough runs.”
To be fair to Shaddy, there is no doubt his shot at the winning play ranks among the toughest in baseball. More fall in that situation than are caught.
But the Hogs had been catching them all for four games in Omaha and for most of the fifth. Gates snared a similar tough catch on a head-long dive on Tuesday night.
Van Horn called Shaddy's chance “a tough play down the right field line, in no man's land.”
Shaddy would have been the hero with the winning RBI in the two-run Arkansas fifth and then the catch for the final out to seal the school's first baseball national championship.
The Hogs will put the ball in Isaiah Campbell's hands for the start. It was Campbell who pitched them through in the Fayetteville Super Regional's deciding game against South Carolina more than two weeks ago, then beat Florida last week in the Omaha to send the Razorbacks to the championship round.
Shaddy said the Hogs have confidence in Campbell and expect to fight back with more run support.
Catcher Grant Koch was asked what to expect from Campbell, the redshirt sophomore from Olathe, Kan.
“I'm expecting the same stuff that he's had for a little while,” Koch said. “He's got four pitches that he commands all of them at times.
“He's been big in big-time situations. We have all of the confidence in him.”
Koch said it's really all the Hogs could ask for, a straight up shot at a national title. He said it's what so many of the team grew up wanting. The Fayetteville junior said the roster is full of players just like him.
“We have a lot of locals,” he said. “It's one more day to be a Razorback. It's one more day and you are one of the last two teams standing. You can't ask anything more.”
That is along the lines of what Van Horn told the team. It didn't take him a lot of words to express it to the players or to the media.
“It was quick,” he said. “We get to play one more game. What more can you ask?
“It's over. You can't take it back.”
Koch said there were not a lot of speeches in the locker room by players.
“We are good,” he said. “There's not much to say.
“What I'll say is that what I was talking about earlier, it was the pride we have in that jersey, the pride we have for the team.
“I think we'll have energy for tomorrow's game. We've felt the energy all year. We'll have it.”
Van Horn said it will be about toughness, the one thing he's always preached.
“We've been pretty tough all year,” Van Horn said. “We've had some tough losses.”
What's left as far as pitching beyond Campbell?
“I don't know,” Van Horn said. “We are getting awful thin. We need a good start.”
The Hogs can go to Jake Reindl. The junior reliever threw only eight pitches on Wednesday, none of them particularly sharp.
“Reindl didn't do anything, so we can come back with him,” Van Horn said.
Kole Ramage was better, recording five outs on 13 pitches. He's available again.
Barrett Loseke threw 22 pitches after throwing 22 on Tuesday. He could pitch again, but probably not for long. Cronin threw 42 pitches after throwing 15 on Tuesday.
“Loseke might give us a hitter and Cronin might can go an inning,” Van Horn said.
Van Horn said Cronin was good in his first inning, but probably “wore down” by the time he worked into the heart of the Oregon State lineup.
“But we were just going to put it his hand,” Van Horn said. “The leadoff man had a good at bat, fouled off a bunch of pitches and worked a walk. That lead-off walk usually comes back to get you.”
Oregon State coach Pat Casey didn't tip his hand on what he has left in regards to pitching. Kevin Abel, his third starter, pitched an inning of relief. He also ruled out Bryce Fehmel and Brandon Eisert. They were first to the mound Wednesday and threw 55 and 82 pitches, respectively.
“Well, we're just going to take it one inning at a time,” Casey said. “Obviously we're backed up a little bit with pitching. We don't have the - we weren't set the way they were set. So it makes it a little more difficult on us.”
It probably seems a bit easier after the bullet the Beavers dodged Wednesday night. Maybe things are finally falling their way.