In 2016 Patrick lumber negotiated the purchase of a lumber processing facility in Philomath Oregon just a few miles west of Corvallis. To insure we gave the facility proper attention my partners agreed to rent a house in Corvallis to use as an office during the start up. As an afterthought Brad Mehl and I decided to further embed ourselves in the community with Beaver season tickets to baseball. We had been fans since the 2005 run to Omaha and many of our new employees shared our passion.
We had a blast going to regional and supers in Corvallis so we renewed our tickets for 2018. Over the Christmas holidays my sister relayed her house was again available from February through June and we quickly committed. At that time I said “if the Beavs make it to Omaha I am going” they did and what a ride it was!
The first half of my trip was Sunday through Thursday with Jack. We had gone to a Super Regionals together, and while I had committed to Omaha months prior, it was alone. Jack was able and willing, Jake my nephew and Chris my brother in law also were going so it was fitting to have Jack too. We flew out Saturday night and back Thursday morning, an error in scheduling since we missed the Beavers first game (a loss). So Monday we went to the first elimination game vs Washington, the Beavers got behind, it was tense. What would we do in Omaha through Thursday if they lost? There was a 4-1/2 hour rain delay where we spent our time tasting local brews, afterwards back at the game we saw the Beavers erupt for 8 runs in 2 innings and take the game. Washington was out. Lucky for us the second elimination game was Wednesday, a perfect set up for our tickets.
We played North Carolina, again we got behind. And again we pulled off a win, Omaha knows how to host. What a blast in and around the stadium with all the fans, Beavers and other teams all celebrating College athletics. We stayed out late and celebrated Jacks birthday at midnight. On our walk back to the hotel the music was still pumping at the open venue, our flight at 6AM made for a short night. We watched the Beavs with two more elimination games at home over Miss St. The first one a blowout 12-2, the second one not so much but no matter, we were on to play the Razorbacks in the finals and this time Jan was going.
We flew in Sunday for the Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday finals. Our flight home Thursday morning. Monday pregame started at the Beaver official site and we enjoyed meeting up with past and present friends, sipping vodka cranberry’s and enjoying the building excitement for game 1 at 6PM. Around 430 we moved closer to the stadium to Blatts and continued the party. Vleet was there, as were many others, his text at 5:36PM “Epping get your ass over to the BLATT. We are upstairs too many names to mention”. Its true, several dozen old friends from the 80’s @ OSU. Every time you turned around there was someone else. Rain delay, yes but no one seemed to care. The game was canceled around 7PM. Around 9PM we took off to dinner, Epping had reserved us a room for 12. Great steak, good company and oh…both Pat Casey and Wayne tinkle stopped in to say HI!
Tuesday game 1 delayed a day, my first experience of a loss @ Omaha, good tight game, but Beavs made too many errors on field, in pitching and on base-paths to win. Not elimination game though, so they still had life, we took it easy that night ad did all Beavers while Arkansas Wooo Pig SOOhii chant reverberated all across town.
Wednesday was: EPIC. Unreal experience, game flipped back and forth over the 9 innings, very entertaining and tense. Jan and I elected to stand on the concourse rail with a group of beavers, here is how I described the last 15 minutes… 9th inning 2 outs: “Oh, and I was there, standing at top of the section by 1st base. We were just wondering if their first blunder would lead to anything. A few pitches later we tie the game, its bedlam. Next batter up home-run line shot, now we are up 5-3 and its euphoric! All beaver fans are going nuts. The 30 or so Beavs we watched the game with are jumping up and down like maniacs. Our pitcher lets the first guy on base in the bottom of the 9th. We bring in our closer. He strikes out the next guy. Then he fields a grounder and it’s a 1-4-3 double play. O S U chant for 30 minutes. Hog fans told me later that night it was over, we had it won. They were right….ripped the little piggy’s heart right out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Our flight home Thursday morning was early again, but we were able to watch the finals with the boys. The hogs fans were right, series was over as the Beavs won 5-0 behind brilliant pitching form our freshman Kevin Able. National Champs.
It is amazing to have picked a winner so early in the season and commit to the trips. Feels like ESP. Absolutely amazing experience.