The State of Oregon

Oregon? Where is that again? It's actually a state on the west coast above California and below Washington. See it there on the map with the abbreviation OR. Apparently they play baseball out there, and they play well at that. They went 6-0 in games that they faced elimination. Imagine 5 times facing the end of your season and coming back to win. Yesterday they came back from 5 runs down to win and today they held on for the lead despite North Carolina having a great last inning shot at tying the game up. North Carolina had their best hitter, Chad Flack, up with two outs and the tying run in scoring postion. But the Oregon State player of the year, Kevin Gunderson, got him to fly out to end the game. As the ESPN announcers said, Gunderson promised a return to the World Series after coming up short last year and he also plays with a ton of heart. On Sunday he pitched 5 1/3 innings relief to OSU survive another day and then today when reliever Dallas Buck got into a little trouble he came in to end it all be the guy to leap into the arms of the catcher when they won it all. Jonah Nickerson was the other hero for the Beavers, "making his third start in eight days," as he pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing only two runs to the strong Tar Heels.
Got to hand it to the Tar Heels though, they played an amazing series besides a few minor errors that really cost them. They had some great pitching that looks to be great even in the majors. They also have a very young, talented team that should return many players for a run at the World Series next year.