2018 College World Series: Oregon State leads from wire to wire to trounce Arkansas, claim NCAA title

Oregon State's incredible run when facing elimination was rewarded with pure jubilation in Omaha.

Now 6-0 with their backs against the wall in the 2018 edition of the College World Series, the Beavers led wire-to-wire Thursday in a 5-0 victory over Arkansas to clinch the 2018 NCAA baseball title. It's the third crown in program history and first since 2007.

Oregon State 5, Arkansas 0

This time around, there was no improbable comeback needed. No Trevor Larnach heroics or Cadyn Grenier clutch hits. Nope. The win that propelled Oregon State to its first title in the TD Ameritrade Park era of the CWS came in dominating fashion.

THEY DO IT.

OREGON STATE IS ON TOP OF COLLEGE BASEBALL ONCE AGAIN!#CWS pic.twitter.com/6RhvmrIUVx

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 29, 2018

Oregon State got off to an early lead with a two-run first inning, with one of the runs unearned after a throwing error. Cadyn Grenier was hit by a pitch and eventually came around to score when Adley Rutschman, who has certainly lived up to his nickname of "Clutchman" and was named the CWS Most Oustanding Player after recording a CWS-record 17 hits, singled through the left side. It was his Rutschman's 100th hit of the season, breaking Jacoby Ellsbury's single-season OSU record of 99. Oregon State collected its second hit of the game when Trevor Larnach — Wednesday's ninth-inning hero with a two-run bomb — scored after singling earlier in the inning.

Kevin Abel was simply terrific on the mound for Oregon State once again — a freshman on a winner-take-all stage, no less. He fanned 10 batters and stymied Arkansas' high-octane offense over nine innings, allowing just two hits. To finish the game, he retired 20 straight batters. It was a remarkable start considering the stage and implications. Arkansas had not been shut out all season.

Abel received three more runs of support — one in the third, one in the fifth, one in the eighth — but he hardly needed the backing. Rutschman brought in Grenier in the third, Gretler's second run scored of the game. And Michael Gretler notched a sac fly to score Rutschman in the fifth. Zak Taylor singled home Gretler in the eighth.

Oregon State's 2018 run in Omaha will forever be historic. Since the series moved to the best-of-three format in 2003, only one other team has hoisted the trophy after losing its CWS opener and the first game of the championship series. Coincidentally, that team was also Pat Casey's Oregon State team in 2006.