OMAHA, Neb. -- Oregon State sophomore catcher Adley Rutschman put his fingerprints all over the College World Series, with his bat, his defense, his handling of pitchers and in the record books as the Beavers clinched the series with a 5-0 victory on Thursday.
Rutschman had hits in his first three at-bats, including RBI singles in each of his first two appearances in the first and third inning en route to earning MVP honors. He went 17 of 30 (.567) in the series with 13 RBI.
The sophomore switch-hitter is projected to be among the top draft picks in the MLB Draft next season. He broke the College World Series record with his 16th hit in Omaha in the third inning, then added another in the fifth before Kole Ramage struck him out in the seventh.
Rutschman also became the first Oregon State player with 100 hits in a season, breaking his tie with Jacoby Ellsbury, who had 99 in 2005.
Rutschman raised his season average to .410 and his on-base percentage was better than .500 on the season after the seventh inning.
Short stints
Oregon State starting pitchers averaged 3 2/3 innings in seven starts headed into the CWS finale.
Freshman Kevin Abel was the only Beavers' starter to make it through five innings and the right-hander did it twice.
Abel threw a two-hit shutout on 129 pitches, retiring the final 20 batters he faced after Casey Martin's infield single in the third inning. Abel threw 95 pitches in a 5-2 victory over Mississippi State on June 23, then pitched an inning, on 23 pitches, and picked up the win in the Beavers' 5-3 comeback victory on Wednesday.
Birthday ace
Arkansas right-hander Blaine Knight turned 22 on Thursday. Knight, a third-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in the MLB Draft earlier this month, entered the final day of the college baseball season with a 14-0 record, the best among unbeaten pitchers in the country.
Knight won both of his starts in Omaha with an 11-6 victory over Texas in the team's opener and a 4-1 victory over Oregon State in the title series opener.
The Razorbacks went 16-3 in starts by the junior from Bryant.
Dynamic duo
Oregon State's Trevor Larnach and Adley Rutschman were hot at the plate throughout the College World Series, with both connecting for their 15th hits in the first inning.
Larnach hit a single to right field and Rutschman followed with a single under the glove of third baseman Casey Martin to plate the Beavers' first run.
Ks too much
The Razorbacks suffered double-digit strikeouts in all three games of the finals series, including 10 against Oregon State freshman Kevin Abel in the finale. The Razorbacks struck out 16 times in Game 1 and 12 in Game 2.
Sunlight, shadow
The early evening start times for the finals have led to pitchers throwing from the full sun into the shadows around home plate created by the grandstand. For the 5:30 p.m. start Thursday, the mound and home plate were in the sun, but it had covered the plate before the first inning ended, making it harder for batters to catch the spin on pitches.
Loaded down
The Razorbacks struggled with the bases loaded in the College World Series finals.
Arkansas entered Game 3 at 0 for 5 with the bases loaded.
Heston Kjerstad struck out with the bases full in the third inning, then Luke Bonfield added a ground out to end a scoring threat and dropped the Razorbacks to 0 for 7 with the bases loaded in the CWS finals.
Long games
The Razorbacks' first five games at the College World Series were lengthy. The game times were 3:55 in the 11-5 victory over Florida (6:44 with the rain delay included); 3:31 in the 7-4 victory over Texas Tech; 3:06 in the 5-2 victory over Florida; 3:52 in the 4-1 victory over Oregon State and 4:07 in the 5-3 loss to the Beavers.
The average game time for those five games is a little more than 3:46.
Shift whiff
The Beavers employed an infield shift for left-handed hitter Heston Kjerstad during the finals, but the alignment did not pay off on the freshman's first plate appearance Thursday.
Kjerstad hit a ground ball that normally would have been a back-hand play for a right-handed second baseman, though it was headed almost straight to shortstop Cadyn Grenier. Second baseman Nick Madrigal made a move to field the ball but screened Grenier, who did not field it cleanly, leading to an error, the Beavers' 10th of the CWS.
Oregon State entered the series tied for fourth nationally in fielding percentage, having made three errors in the 16 games leading into Omaha.
Deke denial
Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman tried to decoy Arkansas third baseman Casey Martin into letting up as he headed home from second on Luke Bonfield's bloop single in the fifth inning. Rutschman stood up just in front of the plate and waited until the last second to make a catch and swipe tag, which Martin beat by a step. Martin was not tricked into slowing down as Dominic Fletcher was giving him the slide sign with high energy.
Lucky ball
Arkansas reliever Matt Cronin said he felt confident he would come back and retire Oregon State's Cadyn Grenier after the shortstop's foul pop fell among three Razorbacks defenders down the right-field line on Wednesday night.
Asked his mentality after the un-made play, Cronin said, "Come back, get that guy right there, but he squeezed a lucky ground ball, in my mind, through the shortstop and third baseman."
Barr one
Home plate umpire Joe Burleson ejected Zach Barr, Arkansas' director of video and scouting in the third inning after the dugout complained about a ball thrown to Oregon State batter Trevor Larnach.
Burleson warned the Arkansas dugout after many players and coaches hollered onto the field, saying he did not want to hear any more and that the pitch was "clearly in there."
When Barr said something else, Burleson responded, "You know what, goodbye."
Derby next
TD Ameritrade Park is not finished with its college events for the season. The park will host the College Home Run Derby on Saturday, featuring six hitters: Will Dalton of Florida, Logan Davidson of Clemson, Thomas Dillard of Ole Miss, Kyle McCann of Georgia Tech, Parker Phillips of Austin Peay and Nic Ready of Air Force.
Around the horn
• Arkansas pitcher Blaine Knight and second baseman Carson Shaddy joined Coach Dave Van Horn for the runner-up trophy presentation after the game.
• Oregon State second baseman Nick Madrigal, the fourth pick of the MLB Draft earlier this month, was 0 for 13 in the finals.
• Fans in the center field stands engaged in a major brawl before the bottom of the sixth inning. Several fans were throwing punches before things settled down and police waded in to the escort combatants out of the park.
• Oregon State outfielder Steven Kwan, a .355 hitter, did not start for the second consecutive game due to a hamstring issue, and was replaced by Jack Anderson (.273).
• Prior to Oregon State's three-run rally for a 5-3 victory on Wednesday, the team leading after eight innings at the College World Series had won 126 of the past 128 games.
• ESPN committed a mistake on its sports app late Wednesday with a post on its College World Series coverage that read "Arkansas Champions!" under a picture of pitcher Blaine Knight and Dominic Fletcher sharing a high-five.
Sports on 06/29/2018