Rob Schumacher | Arizona Republic

OREGON STATE'S TOP 10 ALL-TIME SPORTS MOMENTS

In light of Oregon State’s 2018 national championship in baseball, we thought it was a good time to rank the top 10 moments in Beaver athletics history:

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10. Howard Harris' whirlwind 1980 wrestling season

We thought it was appropriate to include something from Oregon State wrestling because of its historical excellence at Oregon State. Though he wasn’t a multiple NCAA champion like Les Gutches, Greg Strobel or Jess Lewis, no Beaver wrestler has ever had a season like Howard Harris’ tour de force in 1980.

Never close to an NCAA championships in three previous seasons, Harris became unstoppable as senior in the heavyweight class, rolling to a 46-0 record, 40 by pin. Harris, OSU’s career leader for wins with 169, is only one of five NCAA D-1 college wrestlers to pin their way through the national tournament.

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Thomas Boyd

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9. 2016 women's basketball Final Four

Oregon State women’s basketball is accumulating plenty of feel-good moments under coach Scott Rueck, but the highlight by any barometer is landing a Final Four berth in 2016. Six years removed from the program’s near-cratering, the Beavers were considered among the country’s great teams in 2016 when they beat Baylor 60-57 to earn their first-ever Final Four berth.

Oregon State won a program-record 32 games that season, and it was hardly tainted when the Beavers fell to women’s titan Connecticut 80-51.

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Thomas Boyd

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8. Upset of upsets: Oregon State 21, Washington 20

The 80s were largely a forgettable era in Oregon State football, but one Saturday that put a smile on the faces of most Beavers came in 1985: the Beavers’ stunning 21-20 win over Washington in Seattle. At the time it was considered the greatest upset in college football history, as the Beavers were 37-point underdogs. The game has been the subject of many historical look-backs by newspapers and media outlets in recent years.

Oregon State, outscored 97-0 in its two previous games and starting a backup quarterback in unheralded freshman Rich Gonzales, put on one of those classic hang-around-until-the-fourth-quarter performances. Trailing 20-14 with just a few minutes remaining, OSU’s Andre Todd blocked a punt. The ball rolled into the end zone, where Lavance Northington cradled it for a stunning touchdown.

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7. 1980-81 men's basketball reaches No. 1

During the Orange Express period, never was it rolling quite like the 1980-81 season. Also, never did a season crash just as quickly. Oregon State, led by Steve Johnson, Ray Blume and Mark Radford, found itself atop the country’s top 25 for most of the season after the Beavers rolled to a 26-0 record.

Oregon State would never win again that season. The Beavers’ dropped their regular season finale to Arizona State, which wasn’t a big deal. Oregon State was the top seed in the West Regional. In those days, the NCAA tournament was a 48-team tournament, where the top seeded teams sat out the first round. The Beavers opened play in the second round against Kansas State. The Wildcats gave OSU everything it wanted, plus a knockout punch, when Rolando Blackman’s 16-foot baseline jumper with two seconds left sank the Beavers 50-48.

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Sean Meagher | The Oregonian/OregonLive

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6. OSU's 1967 Giant Killers

The year 1967 will long go down as one of the best in Oregon State football history. Its mountaintop was a two-week period in early November, when the Beavers owned national college football headlines for their accomplishments against No. 2 UCLA and No. 1 USC.

Already with a win earlier in the season over a No. 2-ranked team (Purdue), the Beavers earned a 16-16 tie against UCLA when Mike Haggard kicked a field goal with 1:15 left. Afterward, coach Dee Andros proclaimed that he was tired of playing No. 2s, bring on No. 1.

Up next was the top-ranked Trojans, and again, it was a field goal game. Haggard’s 30-yard field goal during the first half was the only score in a 3-0 win, as the Beavers’ defense kept O.J. Simpson under wraps for the most part. Oregon State grabbed headlines in the country’s largest publications for its accomplishment.

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Don Ryan | Associated Press

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5. OSU's 2007 national title in baseball

The second of back-to-back national titles came as a bit of a surprise, as Oregon State lost many of the key pieces from its 2006 championship team. It showed during the regular season, as the Beavers went 10-14 during Pac-10 play. Their resume, which included a 38-17 regular season record, was just good enough to gain entrance into the tournament field. Once in, the Beavers proved they belonged. Oregon State lost its second game in the regionals, then never dropped another game, reeling off 10 consecutive wins to capture the College World Series.

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Eric Francis | Associated Press

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4. Terry Baker claims the Heisman Trophy

This had to be special, as Baker is the lone individual among the school’s top 10 accomplishments. In 1962, Baker became the first player from the West coast to win the Heisman, awarded to college football’s top player each season. A dual-threat quarterback, Baker had 2,261 yards total offense and 24 touchdowns over 10 games. Baker won OSU’s only Heisman, edging Louisiana State defensive back Jerry Stovall.

Baker put an exclamation point on the award a few weeks later when he set an NCAA record with a 99-yard run in the Beavers’ 6-0 win over Villanova in the Liberty Bowl.

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Peter Aiken | Getty Images

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3. OSU's 2018 national title in baseball

Why is the 2018 championship rated more highly than 2007? In our view, because the 2018 title says Oregon State has sustained its excellence over a long period of time, rather than catch lightning in a bottle over a couple years.

Oregon State came into the regular season as one of the favorites to win the College World Series, and lived up to that expectation with a roster of high-round draft picks. Still, it was far from easy, as the Beavers had to win six consecutive elimination games during the CWS, capped by a 5-0 win over Arkansas in the championship game.

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Peter Aiken | Getty Images

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Bruce Ely

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2. OSU's 2006 national title in baseball

Why 2006 over 2007 and 2018? That’s easy: the first is always the best. Oregon State had never won a national championship in one of the major sports until June 26, 2006, when the Beavers beat North Carolina 3-2 to win the College World Series. The Beavers were a team led by a star-studded pitching staff and a lineup that included Pac-10 player of the year Cole Gillespie.

Much like this season, Oregon State had to do it the hard way. OSU lost its CWS opener, as well as the championship series opener, forcing the Beavers to win six consecutive elimination games. OSU set in 2006 what was then a school record with 50 wins.

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Bruce Ely

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Jack Smith | Associated Press

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1. Oregon State crushes Notre Dame in 2001 Fiesta Bowl

Talk about ending three decades of frustration on one glorious Jan. 1 evening. That was the case when Oregon State, college football’s punch line for so many years, became the talk of college football after the Beavers humiliated Notre Dame 41-9 in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl.

OSU was dominant on both sides of the ball, holding the Irish to 155 yards offense, while the Beavers piled up nearly 500 yards. The showboating Beavers, who thoroughly enjoyed themselves throughout the game, had the win in hand by the middle of the third quarter. It capped what was many would argue is the best football season in OSU history. The Beavers finished 11-1 and No. 4 in both polls, and quarterbacked by its future coach, Jonathan Smith.

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Jack Smith | Associated Press