Mitch Canham is proud of Oregon State's brotherhood heading into Omaha

It was a tumultuous first season of independent baseball for the Oregon State baseball program, which was left without a conference following the disbandment of the Pac-12. The Beavers played just 27 home games this season, as head coach Mitch Canham and administration struggled to concoct their schedule.

Canham discussed his program’s scheduling hardships at Thursday’s Men’s College World Series Media Day Press Conference. Given the big stage, he wanted to make sure to point that out.

“I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity for these guys to go out and inspire the world and continue the story that they’ve created throughout the entirety of this year,” Canham said in his opening comments. “It’s such a blessing. It’s been, when others look at the difficulty and hardship that a lot of people can perceive with the scheduling and the road games and some guys not having the start that they wanted, but the growth that has happened. It says in our clubhouse, ‘Growing our family of champions in all that we do.’ And I think growth is what these guys have done throughout the entirety of this year on the field and off.”

Although the Beavers ran all over the country in the regular season, they persevered and made it to their eighth College World Series in program history. Canham attributes that perseverance to the tight brotherhood in Corvallis.

“How they’ve embraced one another and created a very tight-knit brotherhood that will do anything for each other. We’re champions in everything that we do. Whatever is asked of them, I got Gavin Turley laying down bunts from time to time and he’s a power-hitter. He will do whatever it takes to become a champion and help the guys around them. I’ve got Wilson Weber catching every single day and he wants the ball and he continues to grow as a man and a leader. I can go through all of our guys and tell you why I’m proud of them.”

Oregon State heads to Omaha with a 47-14-1 record and will open play in the College World Series on Friday against Louisville. Canham discussed the Cardinals near the end of his media opportunity.

“Louisville does a lot of things really well,” Canham said when touching on Oregon State‘s Friday opponent. “I’ve watched a handful of their games already and doing a little deeper of a dive on their hitters and situational stuff. You can tell they deserve the right to be here based on how they’ve gone about their business. They’ve played a lot of really good teams so we’ve got to make sure we go out and compete.”