CORVALLIS – On a day when Oregon State accomplished a feat not seen in the 110 years since its baseball program launched, Luke Heimlich could only think about the coming days.
The sophomore pitcher fired his first career complete game Sunday in a 6-0 win over UCLA to conclude the regular season at Goss Stadium. In doing so, the Beavers held their opponent scoreless in a three-game series for the first time in program history.
Heimlich was unaware of that fact entering the best pitching performance of his tenure in Corvallis. Among the most significant ramifications of his performance in his mind was a longstanding promise that coaches would allow the pitchers to take batting practice if they ever held a team without a run during a series.
“Hopefully when we come back to practice Tuesday, us pitchers will get a round,” he said.
In that statement, Heimlich expressed the team-wide confidence that Oregon State (35-19, 16-14 Pac-12) had successfully saved its season over the past two weeks.
The Beavers hit their worst skid in years in early May, dropping them out of the Top 25, out of Pac-12 title contention and into uncertainty for the NCAA Tournament. But they responded with lights out pitching performances over the past two weeks against USC and UCLA (25-31, 12-18) – capped off by Heimlich’s five-hit, eight-strikeout gem.
The Bruins, who failed to score a run in a series for the first time in their program’s proud history, had six at-bats with runners in scoring position Sunday. Each time they failed to convert as OSU concluded the weekend with one error and numerous hit-saving plays in the field.
“Everyone’s starting to get confidence. That’s what we need going into the regionals,” said sophomore left fielder Christian Donahue, who went 2 for 4 with three runs batted in. “I think sweeping was a big upside for our chances for this upcoming selection show.”
After failing to earn a complete game all season, Oregon State got three nine-inning outings from three different pitchers over the past two weekends, including each of the final two games from Heimlich and freshman Bryce Fehmel.
“When you’re fighting to stay alive, you play differently,” said junior outfielder Kyle Nobach, who went 2 for 4 with two runs while hitting leadoff for the first time all season. “I don’t think any of us want to be done playing.”
While most national prognosticators had the Beavers in the 64-team tournament field entering the day, Utah – a team picked in the preseason to finish last in the Pac-12 – crushed Washington 21-7 on Sunday to capture the conference title with a sub-.500 overall record. Teams with losing records cannot qualify for the NCAA Tournament without a league championship, meaning that the Utes took away an at-large bid from one unlucky bubble team.
Head coach Pat Casey stressed scenarios like this one after Saturday’s win gave the Beavers their second consecutive series victory. He stated there was “no doubt” Oregon State was among the 64 best teams in the country but external factors could always put a postseason berth at risk.
While the team’s once potent offense generated six hits in the win to tally 16 for the three-game set, the Beavers did not need to scramble for late runs like they had early in the season.
Protecting a 3-0 lead in the seventh, UCLA brought in five different pitchers during a half inning that lasted approximately 35 minutes. Oregon State padded its lead by adding three runs on four walks, a hit batter and a two-RBI single from Donahue.
The six-run lead brought the final day of a pressure-packed two weeks to a leisurely close, which will make Monday’s selection show all the easier to sit through.
“We only can control what we did in this series and we did our job,” Casey said. “I understand that there’s some games that we lost that could hurt us, but I’m confident that we have done what we need to do to get in the tournament.”
— Danny Moran
