CORVALLIS – After Ben Wetzler threw his 121st pitch of the evening and first baseman Danny Hayes squeezed the throw from third for the final out of the Corvallis Regional, Oregon State players ran onto the field for a subdued celebration.

"We all have one goal in our minds, and we're not going to be satisfied until we reach that goal,'' Hayes said. "We'll see how far we can roll with this thing.''

The Beavers beat Texas A&M 6-1 on Sunday to advance to the Super Regionals next weekend against Kansas State at Goss Stadium. "That goal'' can't be reached until late June in Omaha, but for now, the Beavers can exhale after a regional that featured little breathing room but few missteps.

It was the Beavers' 19th win in their last 21 games, their 12th in 12 regional games at Goss and 21st of 24 overall at home in the postseason. It featured a determined performance by Wetzler, another highlight reel catch by Max Gordon, some game-changing hustle plays by Andy Peterson, three RBI from Hayes and – yes, it finally showed up – some timely hitting.

Until Hayes came to the plate in the seventh inning in a 1-1 tie with Tyler Smith and Peterson on base, the goal was simply to get a base hit when runners were in scoring position.

With the notable exception of Friday night's walkoff double by Dylan Davis, who was named the regional's most outstanding player, the Beavers had struggled to do that.

They were a combined 4 for 27 (.148) with runners in scoring position in the regional before Hayes' at-bat. OSU coach Pat Casey, when asked Saturday night about the runners his team had stranded (22 in two games), grew a bit testy. Yes, the Beavers had beaten UTSA 5-4 and UC Santa Barbara 3-2, but both were nail-biters, with no lead greater than one run, that had tested the nerves of coaches, players and fans.

So when Hayes, who said later that he felt like he was "22 going on 40,'' pulled a sharp grounder down the first-base line that eluded the glove of first baseman Cole Lankford and scored Smith and Peterson, the Beavers had taken a relatively comfortable two-run lead.

That opened the floodgates, and the timely hits kept coming. Consecutive RBI singles in the ninth inning by Hayes, Ryan Barnes and Kavin Keyes gave the Beavers (48-10) a five-run lead over the Aggies (34-29), who were playing their second game of the day, having beaten UCSB 5-4 in Sunday's elimination game.

Wetzler (8-1) came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth, now running on pure adrenaline and hitting 92 mph.

"I don't know if I ever felt tired,'' said Wetzler, who allowed one run and four hits and tied his career high with 10 strikeouts in the complete game. "I wanted to win this one so we didn't have to come back tomorrow and play another one.''

Adding to Wetzler's adrenaline was another great diving catch in deep center field by Gordon in the fifth inning that prevented the Aggies from taking the lead.

“It started off pretty rough but as soon as I got the ball down, things started to change a little bit for me,'' said Wetzler, who gave up the one run only when Michael Conforto misplayed a single into a triple in the first inning. "And then Max (Gordon) goes out there and makes a SportsCenter Top 10 type of catch again.''

And Hayes probably would not have come to the plate in the seventh inning if not for Peterson, who legged out an infield single on a come-backer to the mound. Two innings earlier, Peterson hustled into second base to prevent a forceout and force an errant throw to first that scored the Beavers' first run.

"I firmly believe that little things win big games,'' Casey said.

More big games await next weekend against the Wildcats (44-17), who emerged from the Manhattan (Kan.) Regional by beating Arkansas on Sunday.

It will be OSU's fifth super regional appearance, fourth at Goss Stadium. The Beavers advanced to the College World Series with wins in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

In '06 and '07, of course, the Beavers reached "that goal.''