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2018 College World Series: Oregon State stumbles against Arkansas in opening game of championship series

Jun 26, 2018

Arkansas used timely hitting and stymied Oregon State's high-powered offense to pick up a 4-1 victory in Game 1 of the College World Series on Tuesday.

Tuesday's game was originally scheduled for Monday but was moved back a day due to weather in the Omaha area.

The two teams will battle again Wednesday at 4 p.m. PT. Oregon State must win to stay alive in the championship series. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Game 1 winner of the CWS championship series has gone on to hoist the NCAA title 11 of 15 times since the best-of-three format began in 2003.

[Related: 2018 NCAA Baseball College World Series bracket (NCAA.com)]

Oregon State

Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1

After Trevor Larnach doubled leading off the second, Tyler Malone reached on an infield single and Michael Gretler knocked in Larnach to score Oregon State's first run of the game.

The Beavers had a prime opportunity to add to their lead in the fourth before a controversial call derailed their rally. On a ground ball to the right side with runners on the corners and no outs, Adley Rutschman was called for interference after the umpires determined he had had impeded the Razorbacks' shortstop covering at second. Both Rutschman and the batter were called out, and Trevor Larnach had to return to third. Gretler, the next batter up, flied out to end the inning.

Shortly thereafter, Arkansas exploded for all four of its runs in the fifth inning. The Razorbacks opened their attack by poking a one-out hit into right field that plated one run. Oregon State starter Luke Heimlich then hit back-to-back batters, the second being the more costly mistake. It scored Arkansas' second run of the game.

Nick Madrigal committed an uncharacteristic error to allow Arkansas to score its third run of the game. Christian Chamberlain came on in relief and allowed a walk, forcing in the fourth run of the inning.

Oregon State went down in order over its final nine outs. One bright spot for the Beavers was Chamberlain. He went 4 2/3 innings while allowing just three hits and striking out 11 — the most by a reliever at the CWS since 1983. He did, however, walk five batters.