OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas will have to wait another year to win its first baseball national championship.
The Razorbacks lost 5-0 to Oregon State on Thursday in the decisive game of the College World Series championship series in front of 19,323 at TD Ameritrade Park. The Beavers won consecutive games after Arkansas’ Game 1 win and clinched their third national championship since 2006.
Arkansas finished runner-up for the second time in program history. The Razorbacks lost to Cal State Fullerton in the final round of the College World Series in 1979.
Oregon State freshman right-hander Kevin Abel shut out Arkansas with a 129-pitch effort that came one night after throwing 23 pitches in relief. Abel (8-1) struck out 10 and didn’t allow a hit after Casey Martin’s one-out single loaded the bases in the third inning. He retired the final 20 batters he faced.
The Razorbacks (48-21) were shut out for the first time this season. Arkansas batted .147 in three games against Oregon State, which entered the series with the nation’s 11th-best team ERA.
The Beavers (55-12-1) scored twice against Arkansas starter Isaiah Campbell in the first inning to deflate another pro-Razorback crowd, albeit smaller than Games 1 and 2. Arkansas fans packed TD Ameritrade Park all week and nearly saw the team clinch the championship on Wednesday when the Razorbacks allowed three two-out runs to blow a ninth-inning lead for the first time this year.
Campbell (5-7) allowed three runs - two earned - in two-plus innings. He was pulled when he walked Cadyn Grenier in four pitches to lead off the third inning and issued a first-pitch ball to the subsequent batter, Trevor Larnach. After the pitch to Larnach, Arkansas’ video and scouting director, Zach Barr, was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Joe Burleson.
Oregon State added a fourth run on Michael Gretler’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and went ahead 5-0 on Zak Taylor’s RBI single in the eighth. The Beavers out-hit the Razorbacks 7-2.