Canzano: "Forget just going to Omaha — go win it.”
Oregon State looks locked in on the baseball diamond.
We met in the lobby of the team hotel and walked a few blocks to St. Mary Magdalene Church. This was 2007 in Omaha. Oregon State baseball coach Pat Casey slipped inside and sat in the ninth row of pews.
When the altar boy walked past with the collection basket, Casey pulled a folded bill from his pocket and dropped it in.
The altar boy nodded, then whispered, “Good luck, coach.”
Casey attended church every morning on the way to a national championship run in Omaha that spring. I accompanied OSU’s coach on the morning of the title game, noting a surreal sense of peace and focus.
We didn’t talk baseball on the walk.
We talked about farming and irrigation pipes.
More on that in a moment, but first, is anyone surprised that Oregon State baseball won four straight elimination games to advance to the Super Regional? Anyone shocked that, staring down the end of their season, the Beavers outscored the opposition 50-6 in four games?