After 2016 Snubs, Oregon State, UNC Seek Return To Past Glory Days

When Oregon State coach Pat Casey wants to compliment a player, particularly for his leadership, he invokes Darwin Barney. If you’re going over the short list of most important players in Oregon State history, it begins with Barney, the shortstop on Casey’s back-to-back national championship teams in 2006-07.

Nearly 3,000 miles across the country, Casey’s old foil from those championship years, North Carolina coach Mike Fox, has his own ways to honor the Tar Heels’ storied past.

Those two seasons kicked off a string of six CWS trips for UNC in an eight-year span. Last year, the Tar Heels retired the number of 2006 College Player of the Year Andrew Miller. This year, the Heels are retiring Dustin Ackley’s No. 13. Ackley was the national Freshman of the Year in 2007, kicking off a career in which he hit .412 for three seasons with 346 hits, including a CWS-record 28 hits.

It’s the 10th anniversary for the ’07 CWS. The nice, round number makes it natural for both programs to celebrate. That’s the last title for the Beavers and the last Finals appearance for the Tar Heels. Plus, both teams want to forget the recent past. In 2016, neither team made it to NCAA regional play.

A Game Of Adjustments

Rumors have swirled around Casey, who’s entering his 30th season as a head coach and 23rd at Oregon State, for several seasons, whether it would be that he would step down, leave for another job (Texas) or ascend to the athletic director’s seat in Corvallis. However, he signed a new contract in the fall that extends him through 2022.

The Beavers have had success since their national titles, of course, most notably in 2013, when Michael Conforto helped lead them to their only trip to TD Ameritrade Park. So much has changed since 2007, most notably Oregon adding baseball, giving the Beavers much more competition for talent. Recruiting hasn’t been a big issue though.

After losing in the regional round as the No. 1 overall seed in 2014, Casey reloaded with a ninth-ranked recruiting class, headed by the likes of righthander Drew Rasmussen, slugger K.J. Harrison and outfielder Elliott Cary.

That group faltered as sophomores, and the team with it. Rasmussen, who threw a perfect game as a freshman, had Tommy John surgery, as did Cary. Harrison was among those Beavers who struggled in league play, as Oregon State ranked 10th in batting in Pac-12 play.

Rasmussen won’t be ready to start the season, but Cary is expected back, while Harrison may finally get some reps behind the plate, replacing last year’s top player, catcher Logan Ice. The Beavers’ 12th-ranked 2015 recruiting class, led by Preseason All-America sophomore infielder Nick Madrigal, is ready to provide support, but how the junior class responds to last season’s disappointment will go a long way toward determining the success of the 2017 team.

North Carolina has been more consistent than the Beavers since ’07, making four other CWS trips, most recently with its 59-win 2013 club. Since then, the Tar Heels have made one regional appearance, in 2014, before missing in back-to-back seasons.

As was the case in 2005, before the 6-in-8 run began, Fox has tweaked his coaching staff, getting the opportunity when Liberty hired assistant Scott Jackson as its head coach. Fox shifted Scott Forbes, pitching coach from 2006-16, to recruiting coordinator and hitting coach while adding Robert Woodard, who pitched on both ’06-’07 teams, to guide the pitchers. The 32-year-old Woodard gives the program both a tangible tie to its past while also giving the coaching staff a younger voice. He’s opened up the pitching staff to some new techniques, even bringing in drills from Driveline Mechanics—which works with many college clubs but are based in the Pacific Northwest and have long worked with the Beavers staff.

You can’t blame North Carolina or Oregon State for dipping into the previous decade to celebrate or get inspiration for this year’s teams. Both national powers want to get back into the conversation. They both hope the past is just prologue to better times in 2017.