Beavers' victory over Virginia puts team in town for NCAA Super Regional this weekend

Oregon State's 7-3 victory over Virginia on Tuesday in the championship game of the Charlottesville Regional sent OSU athletic department officials into scramble mode as they made quick arrangements for a weekend NCAA Super Regional baseball series in Corvallis.

If the Beavers defeat Michigan in the two-out-of-three series, they will earn their their third consecutive trip to the College World Series in Omaha.

The Beavers will host Michigan at noon Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Monday (if necessary) in the series at Goss Stadium. Saturday's game will be on ESPNU; Sunday's game is on ESPN. A Monday game would be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.

The champions of the eight Super Regionals being played around the country this weekend advance to Omaha, where OSU won the national title in 2006 by defeating North Carolina 3-2 in the championship game.

Season-ticket holders have until 4 p.m. today to place their orders for the same number of all-session tickets as they have season tickets. They are not guaranteed the same seat location as in the regular season, as the NCAA requires OSU to allocate 600 seats in the main grandstand to Michigan.

Any remaining tickets go on sale Thursday, starting at 7 a.m. online at www.osubeavers.com and at 8:30 a.m. at the Gill Coliseum ticket office or by phone at 737-4455 or 800-GO BEAVS. OSU director of ticket operations Matt Arend said Michigan will release any unsold tickets from its allotment back to OSU tonight.

"Seats for season-ticket holders will be allocated based on (Beaver Athletic Scholarship Fund) priority," Arend said.

It took a near-perfect storm for the Beavers, the third seed at Charlottesville, to earn a home Super Regional for the third year in a row. Vanderbilt, the top national seed, was eliminated by Michigan on Monday; Michigan did not bid to host a regional because its Wilpon Baseball and Softball Complex is undergoing an extensive renovation.

"We didn't know Michigan didn't bid," OSU associate athletic director Todd Stansbury said Tuesday from Charlottesville. "We did bid, and we knew a lot of different things had to happen for us to host.

"But we wanted to make sure if everything fell into place we'd be ready for it. We're scrambling to get ready but it's a great problem to have. The team is pretty excited."

The first-base and right-field temporary bleachers were removed last week and taken to Portland for the Rose Parade, facilities director John Cheney said Tuesday. The first-base section will be returned, but the right-field section erected for the final two homestands is unavailable and alternate bleachers will be used instead.

Additional ground-level seating will be added in left field, raising the capacity from about 2,800 or about 3,000. The attendance record for Goss is 3,194, set on June 11, 2006, in the 15-0 Super-Regional victory over Stanford that earned OSU's 2006 College World Series berth.

Michigan will be headquartered at the Salbasgeon Suites. Cheney was still checking on lodging space for tournament officials, a process made more difficult by the OSU Alumni Association's Golden Jubilee reunion functions and the Monday graduations at Corvallis and Crescent Valley high schools.

The Beavers were scheduled to arrive in Corvallis from Charlottesville at about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Both teams will practice at Goss Stadium on Friday.