The opening game of the College World Series championship series Tuesday night was the final college game of Luke Heimlich. For this author, it ended the way it needed to.
After a rainout on Monday that has become typical of the 2018 College World Series, the championship series of this year’s College World Series got underway Tuesday night with both teams sending their ace to the mound. Arkansas sent their undefeated ace, Blaine Knight, while Oregon State sent divisive lefty Luke Heimlich to the mound.
Heimlich’s divisiveness does not need to be re-hashed here. His actions at 15 years old became public record last season, and way too many words have been spent deciding whether or not he should even be on the field. My personal stance is that he should not be on the field, but the reasoning is a whole other article altogether.
The simple truth is that Luke Heimlich has been an incredible distraction to Oregon State baseball this season. The team boasts some of the best players in the entire nation. Nick Madrigal, Trevor Larnach, and Cadyn Grenier were all selected in the first round of the draft. Three more Beavers went in the second day of the draft. Catcher Adley Rutschman is currently regarded as a possible top overall draft pick in 2019. Instead, the focus all season on a national level has been Luke Heimlich. Yet, the focus was constantly Luke Heimlich.
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The College World Series in 2018 contained some of the best stories of many, many years in college baseball. The story of Mississippi State making it to the semifinals after losing their head coach during the season. The story of Washington taking the Pac-12 title over even the great Oregon State team and continuing their late-season success all the way to Omaha. Yet, the story of the College World Series was Luke Heimlich.
It’s not that Luke Heimlich was unsuccessful and didn’t deserve the spotlight through his play. Quite the opposite is true, in fact. Heimlich finishes his college career with a 2.29 ERA over 376 2/3 collegiate innings, but over his final two regular seasons with the Beavers, he went 27-2 over 238 innings, posting an incredible 1.55 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and a 47/279 BB/K ratio.
However, in Omaha, Luke Heimlich became the story for a very different reason. He became the story of the College World Series because of his struggles. Including his start Tuesday against Arkansas, Heimlich only pitched a total of 9 1/3 innings, posting a 10.61 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, and a 3/8 BB/K ratio over those starts with a surprising 5 hit batters.
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Oregon State could end up coming back and winning the College World Series on Wednesday and Thursday night, however, they will have to do all of that without Luke Heimlich. The story would be about Oregon State’s other players playing their hearts out, and if they do win, that’s the way it should be.