College World Series down to Oregon State, Arkansas

Oregon State is seeking its third College World Series title while Arkansas is going for its first when the rain-delayed best-of-three championship series begins Tuesday night.

The series was to begin Monday night, but was pushed back as severe weather swept through the Omaha area.

Coach Pat Casey also led the Beavers to back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007 and has them back in the College World Series for the second straight season.

The No. 1 seed in 2017, Oregon State was eliminated in the semifinals last year by eventual runner-up LSU.

This year, the third-seeded Beavers (53-11-1) dropped their first game of the College World Series 8-6 to North Carolina, but rebounded to win four straight to reach the finals.

The fifth-seeded Razorbacks (47-19), who lost in their regional final last season, have yet to drop a game in this year’s edition of the series. They opened by beating Texas 11-5, then beat Texas Tech 7-4 and finally defending champion and No. 1 seed Florida 5-2 in the semifinals.

Arkansas reached the finals for the second time in program history, with the previous time coming when the team lost the national title to Cal State Fullerton in 1979.

Game 2 of the championship series will now be held Wednesday night, with a Game 3, if necessary, set for Thursday night.