CORVALLIS – Jack Anderson has lost track of the amount of times he watched the highlight video. He was 12 years old, standing in his childhood home when a pop fly fell into Tyler Graham's glove in Omaha, sealing the first national championship in Oregon State baseball history and cementing a memory Anderson continues to relive. Saturday marked the 10-year anniversary celebration for that team Anderson idolized, an evening completed with the throwback cream uniforms the Beavers donned on the night of their first title win. The sophomore right fielder honored that group by smacking a two-out single up the middle to give Oregon State (19-6, 5-3 Pac-12) a 5-4 lead over Washington. Thirteen members of that team were on hand to see the hit, including Graham. Now the Beavers' first base coach, Graham greeted Anderson when he arrived after what turned out to be the game-winning single. Anderson turned to his idol and motioned to his jersey. "We don't lose in these things," he told Graham. The RBI single gave the Beavers' their fifth run in two innings to complete a comeback from a 4-0 seventh inning deficit. A loss Saturday would have dropped them to 4-4 in Pac-12 play and put them in danger of dropping their second consecutive Pac-12 series, adding to a difficult week after the official word Friday that starting ace Drew Rasmussen would miss the rest of the season. The news was a significant blow to Oregon State's hopes of adding a third College World Series trophy to complement the two already sitting in Goss Stadium. But the Beavers felt comfortable after spotting Washington (13-10, 4-4) an early lead. Anderson recalled the exact score and inning of Game 2 in the College World Series 10 years ago, when Oregon State was trailing 5-0 in the fifth inning facing elimination before twice beating North Carolina. "They never thought they were going to lose," he said. The Beavers entered Saturday with the best batting average in the Pac-12 yet mustered only two hits in the first five innings. Freshman Joe DeMers pitched a career-high 6 1/3 innings and allowed five hits on only 70 pitches. "I don't think we were happy about it," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "But I thought we got some good swings early in the first two or three innings and then in the fourth and fifth there he dominated us pretty good." DeMers exited after back-to-back singles by Christian Donahue and Anderson in the seventh inning. OSU got on the board the following at-bat when centerfielder Kyle Nobach belt a 2-2 pitch to the right centerfield gap to score Donahue and Anderson. Nobach advanced to third and then home on a pair of wild pitches to cut the deficit to 4-3 and set the stage for the bottom of the eighth. The Beavers became the first team all season to get to Washington closer Troy Rallings, who had not allowed an earned run in 32 consecutive innings. Trever Morrison led off with a single, advanced to second on a Nick Madrigal sacrifice bunt and scored on a KJ Harrison drive up the gut. Logan Ice singled to push Harrison to third, bringing Anderson to the plate. Anderson and Nobach each went 2 for 4, the only OSU players to finish with multiple hits. Oregon State finished with 10 hits, while Washington left nine runners on base, including two in the top of the ninth. Mitch Hickey (1-0) did not allow a hit in a scoreless eighth inning and earned his first victory of the season. Max Engelbrekt notched his 10th save of the year, the most in the Pac-12. Before the game, Anderson made sure to speak with Jonah Nickerson, the most outstanding player of the 2006 College World Series who also spent a year as his team's pitching coach at Lake Oswego High School. Thoughts of Nickerson came to Casey's mind too, but after the victory. Casey saw the impact that title team had on his current squad and thought back to what he told the pitcher after winning the College World Series – a statement that was never more fitting than Saturday evening. "In five years ... you'll think that it's pretty cool," Casey said. "In 10 years, it's going to be iconic."

• published: 03 Apr 2016
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