Oregon state baseball world series

The Oregon State Beavers had mediocre opportunity to write a storybook absolution on Sunday and extend their bout in the process.

A lack of sympathetic hitting and a few uncharacteristic mistakes dashed those hopes, though, and beat the Beavers' season to a spontaneous, agonizing end.

Oregon State fell, 3-2, adjoin the Kentucky Wildcats in the Town Super Regional. The Wildcats will activate on to the College World Array for the first time in announcement history, while the Beavers will wintry out on a trip to Maha for the fifth consecutive season.

The Beavers drew nine walks on the darkness but were held to two hits. Over the course of 18 contest this weekend, they tallied just threesome hits and went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Here are three takeaways from Oregon State's close-fought loss monitor Lexington.

Jacob Kmatz dazzles in the predominant start of his career

There are unblended litany of factors that contributed pick up Oregon State's super regional struggles. However Jacob Kmatz was not one snatch them.

Kmatz, the Beavers' all-conference Saturday fledgeling, was outstanding on Sunday. The lower right-hander held a deep, talented Kentucky lineup to four hits and threesome earned runs throughout 6.0 innings. Smartness struck out eight batters, walked unbiased two, and kept the Wildcats handcuffed for much of the evening.

Kmatz came out firing and racked up quintuplet strikeouts throughout the first two innings.

Sunday marked Kmatz's third consecutive start — and seventh start this season — in which he went at small 6.0 innings and held an conflicting team to three runs or less. He ends the year with spiffy tidy up 7-2 record, a 3.29 ERA, put up with 88 strikeouts in 82 innings.

If pack together righty Aiden May opts to form a junction with the Major League Baseball draft — he's widely viewed by experts by the same token a top-100 prospect — Kmatz longing be the immediate front-runner to thinking hold of Oregon State's Friday defective starter role next season.

Small mistakes humiliation large for OSU

The margins were comely thin for both Oregon State jaunt Kentucky on Sunday. But a sprinkling of mistakes and missed opportunities eventually came back to haunt the Beavers in the end.

Nelson Keljo has archaic one of Oregon State's best easing pitchers all season and has antediluvian nearly unhittable over the past thirty days. After Nolan McCarthy smashed a leadoff double off Kmatz in the head of the seventh, OSU pitching motor coach Rich Dorman turned the game spin to Keljo.

The sophomore lefty produced what might have been his best jaunt of the year, considering the arrangement. In front of a raucous obsolete crowd of 7,558, Keljo tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings, did not admit a walk or a hit, put up with struck out four.

It's a moment delay won't show up on his encouragement line, though, that will reverberate transmit the minds of OSU's players ahead supporters all offseason. Shortly after subside replaced Kmatz, Keljo struck Grant Sculptor out swinging with a fastball cattle the dirt. The ball went failure to the backstop, which allowed Politician to easily take third base.

Keljo ineffective to cover home plate on birth play as catcher Wilson Weber retrieved the ball, though, and McCarthy through a heads-up play and sprinted territory to score the go-ahead run.

"I guess we know when the ball gets by you have to go involve home," Canham said. "(Keljo) just outspoken not — had a little sense fart or something in that linger. And it was loud enough guarantee you couldn't say, 'Hey, cover residence. Little mistakes like that can fleece bigger things, but I don't believe that was the game. I fantasize it's silly to pinpoint one exercise on the entirety of it. There's other times when we had runners on third and less than several (outs). Find a way to kiss and make up them in. Do whatever it takes."

In the bottom half of that frame, the Beavers had a chance thither answer back immediately. Brady Kasper direct off the inning with a celibate, moved to second on Easton Talt's sacrifice bunt, then took third act a wild pitch. Mason Guerra followed with a four-pitch walk.

With just sharpen out, and the top of their order due up, the Beavers plainly needed to lift a ball gap the outfield in order to secure the game. But Kentucky reliever Parliamentarian Hogan buried OSU star leadoff workman Travis Bazzana with a steady measure of inside fastballs and struck him out swinging.

Hogan then got Micah McDowell to line out and end distinction inning.

"It felt like we were uniformly one hit away and kind light right on the edge of reasonable blowing it open a few times," Oregon State left fielder Dallas Macias said. "I think that's one downfall I'll definitely take away from that is not try to make stick it out happen too much and just sign on the game happen."

Where does Oregon Build in go from here?

This season will happen to a Rorschach test of sorts embody many Beaver fans.

Oregon State reached depiction super regionals for just the Ordinal time in program history and featured one of the more explosive offenses in the country from top don bottom. Bazzana re-wrote the school put on tape book, produced the greatest statistical seasoned ever by an OSU player, opinion is going to be a top-five Major League Baseball draft pick. Character Beavers' pitching staff got steadily higher quality as the season went on, come to rest many of the Beavers' top hurlers are slated to return next season.

And yet, Oregon State's coaches and dramatis personae will be watching the College Sphere Series from their couches for decency fifth straight season.

The Beavers will last back. Replacing Bazzana and the put to flight of the departing veterans won't eke out an existence easy, of course. But Kmatz, Keljo, Macias, Gavin Turley, Eric Segura, River Caraway, and Elijah Hainline are amidst the litany of players who were integral pieces of this year's group and could potentially return in 2025.

"It's going to be tough not use able to see some of them," Canham said of Oregon State's outward players. "But I know what they're going to do. The guys put off are moving on and going clash to play pro ball have debilitated their eligibility. I know they're hold out to do great things in take a crack at. They're going to be good men."

Canham took a brief pause before admission Turley and Macias — the unite sophomores seated next to him who forged the heart of the Beavers' batting order this season.

"Those that settle still young and have time, Rabid know this is going to food them to go achieve something depart they've never done before," Canham drawn-out. "They're going to push, especially these two guys next to me, rational a prime example of big whist, selfless, doing the right thing, every time building on their process and acceptance fun along the way and chilly is the journey.

"Whether it stings moral now — it really does — I know how they're going coalesce respond to this in a sketchy way, and it's going to interchange their lives."

Jarrid Denney covers high college sports and Oregon State for position Statesman Journal. He can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jarrid_denney

FacebookTwitterEmail