Hall of Fame Spotlight: 2005 World Series Team
October 23, 2015 | Baseball
When USC rallied from a five-run deficit to steal Game 2 of the 2005 NCAA Corvallis Super Regional from Oregon State, what had been a magical season was on the verge of becoming a missed opportunity.
The resilient Beavers, however, would not let that happen. Less than 24 hours later, they handled the Trojans 10-8 in the rubber game to earn OSU's first trip to the College World Series in 53 years.
Senior first baseman Andy Jenkins hit for the cycle and sophomore starter Dallas Buck came out of the bullpen to close out the game with a scoreless ninth inning, sending the dogpiling Beavers off to Omaha for the first time since 1952.
The 2005 squad won 7 of 8 league series to capture OSU's first Pacific-10 Conference championship. It set a school-record with 46 victories; junior center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was the co-Player of the Year; shortstop Darwin Barney was the Freshman of the Year and 11 players earned all-Pac-10 recognition.
That Beavers went 0-2 in the CWS, dropping close games to Tulane and Baylor. But they set the stage for greater things to follow and for all those reasons, and more, the 2005 baseball team will be inducted into the OSU Athletics Hall of Fame during Homecoming weekend, Oct. 23-24.
“It means a lot,” said Jenkins, a 2005 team captain and current OSU assistant coach who retired from professional baseball in 2011 after reaching triple-A. “It's been 10 years removed now and to still be celebrating something we did in 2005 is special.
“It's still meaningful in [the players'] eyes. A lot of guys are coming back, bringing their families. We're happy to celebrate it again.”
The Beavers were 19-5 in conference play and set a (since broken) school record for most league wins in a season. They then swept through the NCAA Corvallis Regional with wins over Ohio State, St. John's and St. John's again in the regional championship.
Next came the Super Regional with USC, which featured future major leaguers Jeff Clement, Lucas Duda and Ian Kennedy. The Beavers won the opener, fell in Game 2, and then held off the Trojans in Game 3 to punch their ticket to Rosenblatt Stadium.
“We were just a bunch of go-hards,” Jenkins said. “We didn't have a bunch of expectations. We just played hard, practiced hard, and there was a lot of competition.
“We really enjoyed being around each other. That's the true testament to a team. We just kind of rode a wave” that crested in Omaha.
Ellsbury, Barney, Jenkins, Buck and pitchers Jonah Nickerson and Kevin Gunderson were all-Pac-10. Pitchers Nate Fogle and Anton Maxwell, infielders Ryan Gipson and Shea McFeely and outfielder Tyler Graham earned honorable mention.
Jenkins hit a school-record .459 in the postseason. Ellsbury hit .351, with two doubles, a triple and five stolen bases.
Sixteen players from that team were eventually drafted and turned pro. Ellsbury, Barney, Graham, Cole Gillespie, Eddie Kunz made it to the major leagues and Ellsbury, Barney and Gillespie are still active.
Pat Casey earned Pac-10 Coach of the Year, West Region Coach of the Year, and the College Baseball Foundation's National co-Coach of the Year honors, and was named the Slats Gill Sportsperson of the Year at the Oregon Sports Awards.
The entire 2015 class will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 23. A reception for this year's honorees will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Club level of Reser Stadium; dinner and the induction ceremony will follow at 7 p.m.
The 2005 Beavers and the other inductees – gymnast Heidi Anderson, former baseball coach Jack Riley, former basketball student-athlete and coach Jimmy Anderson, longtime coach, athletic administrator and faculty member Pat Ingram, and former football student-athlete Ken Simonton – will also be honored during the Oct. 24 football game against Colorado.
The OSU Athletics Hall of Fame was established to honor and preserve the memory of those student-athletes, teams, coaches, and members of the athletic staff who have contributed in an outstanding and positive way to the promotion of OSU's athletic and academic programs.
