OMAHA, Neb. -- Oregon State already can make a case for ranking among the greatest college baseball teams of all time. If the Beavers win the national championship at the College World Series, there will be no argument.
At 54-4, the Beavers have the fewest losses of any team entering the CWS since Texas came in 57-4 in 1982. They take a 21-game winning streak into their game today against Cal State Fullerton (39-22). Florida State (45-21) plays LSU (48-17) at night.
Oregon State won the Pac-12 by six games, the largest margin since the conference ended divisional play in 1999, and outscored three regional opponents 27-3 as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Beavers then cruised to a two-game sweep of Vanderbilt in super regionals.
Now comes the hard part -- finishing the job on the college game's grandest stage at TD Ameritrade Park.
"It is absolutely a lot of pressure, and it's a different kind of pressure than any other experience along the way," said retired Hall of Fame Coach Augie Garrido, who won three national championships at Fullerton and two at Texas. "They're going to have to adapt to the environment, and that is a huge challenge for all teams."
Oregon State will take the next step toward its third national title since 2006 without its top pitcher, Luke Heimlich, and starting left fielder Christian Donahue. Heimlich did not pitch in super regionals after it was revealed last week that when he was a teenager he pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old girl. He did not accompany the team to Omaha because he didn't want to be a distraction.
Coach Pat Casey announced Friday that Donahue was suspended for the entire CWS for an unspecified violation of team rules.
The Beavers have a pitching staff that ranks No. 1 in the country with a 1.80 ERA. Jake Thompson is 14-0, Pac-12 player of the year Nick Madrigal is batting a team-leading .383, and KJ Harrison has hit 3 of his 8 home runs in the last 5 games.
"If they win it all, it's going to be hard for them not to be considered No. 1 all-time," Baseball America editor John Manuel said. "They had another national seed in their conference in Stanford. Arizona is in their league and was national runner-up last year. This wasn't a vintage Pac-12 year, but it's still a strong conference. They played good competition and blew everyone's doors off."
Garrido said the Beavers compare favorably to the dominant Southern California teams of the early 1970s, the Texas teams of the mid-1970s and early '80s, and his 1995 Fullerton squad that went 57-9, won the national title and was named the greatest team of the 20th century by Baseball America.
As for that 1982 Texas team that came in 57-4, it didn't win the national title.
Harrison, the Oregon State catcher, said he had heard about the '82 Texas team, and how it went 2-2 in Omaha and failed to reach the championship game. Based on that, he said, "greatest of all time" talk can wait for Oregon State.
"We're not done yet," he said. "Our goal is to win that national championship."
Things to know as the 71st College World Series begins:
STARTING PITCHERS
Oregon State will start Thompson (14-0) against Fullerton's Connor Seabold (11-5), and LSU's Alex Lange (9-5) will go against Florida State's Tyler Holton (10-2). On Sunday, Texas A&M will start Corbin Martin (7-3, 3.35 ERA) against Louisville's Brendan McKay (10-3, 2.34) and Florida will send Alex Faedo (7-2, 2.55) out against TCU's Jared Janczak (9-0, 1.97).
FAMILIAR FACES
Each of the eight teams has played in the CWS at least once since 2011, with Florida here for the sixth time in eight years and TCU for the fourth consecutive year. Four of the teams rank among the top 12 in all-time appearances. Florida State is fourth (22), Cal State Fullerton and LSU are tied for seventh (18), and Florida is 12th (11).
"I think this is the most complete field I've seen," Florida Coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "There are no Cinderellas."
DAYCARE TO AGGIELAND
Texas A&M freshman designated hitter Logan Foster ended up an Aggie even though he grew up in Lincoln, 50 miles from Omaha. Foster's first contact with Coach Rob Childress came in the late 1990s, when Childress was an assistant at Nebraska.
"I've known him since he was 1 year old," Childress said. "He went to daycare with my daughter. He kept coming to camps once we went to Texas A&M, and once he made the decision to be an Aggie I told him, 'I'm not putting the pacifier back in your mouth anymore. You're going to have to do it yourself.'"
College World Series
TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, Neb. All times Central
TODAY’S GAMES
Cal State Fullerton (39-22) vs. Oregon State (54-4), 2 p.m. LSU (48-17) vs. Florida State (45-21), 7 p.m.
Sports on 06/17/2017