Freshman Kevin Abel pitches Oregon State past Arkansas to win College World Series

Matt Eppers | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Oregon State takes down Arkansas to win College World Series Oregon State beat Arkansas 5-0 in the decisive game of the College World Series finals to capture the third national championship in program history.

A night after coming within a strike of losing the College World Series finals, Oregon State didn't need any sort of rally to win the NCAA title.

Freshman pitcher Kevin Abel stifled Arkansas with a two-hit complete-game shutout, and Oregon State won Game 3 of the CWS finals 5-0 to clinch the third national championship in program history. Adley Rutschman drove in two runs, and Michael Gretler and Zak Taylor each drove in one for the Beavers.

"Kept making pitches, kept getting outs," Abel said. "I felt better as the game went on and just rode it out. I was going to give it everything I had. I really appreciate they let me go out there. It was a lot of fun."

Abel limited the Razorbacks to two hits and two walks in nine stellar innings. He struck out 10, threw 129 pitches and retired the final 20 batters he faced. Abel became the first pitcher to win four games in a single College World Series and the fourth to throw a shutout in the championship game. Brett Laxton of LSU was the last to do it in 1993.

THEY DO IT.



OREGON STATE IS ON TOP OF COLLEGE BASEBALL ONCE AGAIN!#CWS pic.twitter.com/6RhvmrIUVx — NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 29, 2018

"My goodness, that man. Unbelievable," said catcher Rutschman. "Just the progression he made. No one would have thought that he’d do that coming in. He was getting pulled from starts. He comes out and throws a complete game in the most important game of the year. Pretty special to me. He’s going to do big things."

Abel got into trouble just once, when Arkansas loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third. He ended the threat by striking out Heston Kjerstad and getting Luke Bonfield to fly out. The Razorbacks didn't have another base runner the rest of the game.

Used as a starter and reliever all season, Abel's versatility paid off in Omaha. Of his four wins, two came in starts and two came in relief. Abel pitched one perfect inning of relief Wednesday to win Game 2 of the finals.

On June 23, Abel started and limited Mississippi State to one run in seven innings as Oregon State won to advance to the CWS finals. And on June 18, he pitched four innings of one-run relief for a win against Washington.

"I know how much work these guys put in, 6 a.m. workouts starting in September," Abel said. "This has been where we want to be. We wanted to finish. That’s what we wanted to do all year, and we did it."

Rutschman went 3-for-4 with RBI singles in the first and third innings. The sophomore catcher was named Most Outstanding Player after batting .567 in Omaha with a CWS-record 17 hits.

After winning Game 1 of the best-of-three finals, Arkansas was one strike away from its first national championship in Game 2. The Razorbacks led 3-2 with two outs in the ninth when Oregon State's Cadyn Grenier sent a two-strike pop-up down the right-field line. Instead of a title-clinching out, the ball fell in foul territory between three Arkansas fielders.

Grenier took advantage, singling in the tying run three pitches later. Trevor Larnach then followed with a two-run homer that gave the Beavers a decisive 5-3 lead.

"We’ve got a special group here that’s been able to come together," Rutschman said. "We never thought we were going to lose. This is a special group."

Contributing: Associated Press.