The Barometer Online

Issue date: 5/27/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Freshman Sam Gaviglio delivers a pitch against Oregon on April 28. Gaviglio threw a complete game shutout last Friday in Oregon State's 5-0 victory at Stanford.

For the Oregon State baseball team, the question was not if, but where.

The Beavers were confident that they were in the NCAA Tournament, they just wanted to know when they would get back on the field, where they would be playing and who they would get to play. The answers to those questions are: Friday at 12 p.m., Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas and the Texas A&M Aggies.

On Sunday the NCAA released the 64-team field that would make a push at the College World Series. While there were head scratchers, snubs and plenty to be talked about, it became certain right away during the selection show on ESPN that Oregon State would be back in the NCAA Tournament.

After releasing the Austin Regional to open up the show, up came the Fort Worth Regional. No. 1 Texas Christian (36-16) to meet No. 4 Wright State (33-28) and No. 3 Oregon State (35-17) meeting No. 2 Texas A&M (36-22). There it was - confirmation that a series win against Stanford had secured a spot in the tournament.

"We've got A&M in the first round and Wright State plays TCU," sophomore closer Kevin Rhoderick said. "They are all good teams. A&M comes from the Big 12 and TCU won the Mountain West, it'll be fun."

Should Oregon State advance past the regional round of the NCAA Tournament, they will match up with a team from the Austin Regional. Joining national No. 1 seed Texas (41-13-1) will be Army (34-19), Boston College (33-24) and Texas State (41-15).

The tournament committee snubbed the Beavers last year after OSU won back-to-back national titles and was fresh off three straight trips to Omaha. This year it was a batch of smaller schools that the college baseball experts felt were snubbed from the tournament.

Included in the field of 64 was Oklahoma State, who finished Big 12 Conference play 9-16 and 32-22 overall. The Cowboys were not invited to their conference tournament, but made it into the tournament instead of a San Jose State team, who finished 41-20 in the regular season and won the WAC regular season title.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools