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06/21/2007 8:01 PM ET
Barney helps lead Beavers back from brink
Cubs' fourth-rounder has Oregon State primed for title defense
By Jeff Birnbaum / MLB.com
Darwin Barney was handpicked to lead Oregon State and he's got them in the finals again. (Eric Francis/AP)

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• North Carolina returns to Finals

OMAHA, Neb. -- A month ago, no one would have believed that the Oregon State Beavers would be in prime position to defend their 2006 national championship.

Pac-10 rival Arizona State had just completed a three-game sweep against the Beavers, punctuating a 2-7 slide that left Oregon State on the outside of the postseason looking in.

Throughout the skid the Beavers seemed to be missing the killer instinct that made last year's team so successful. Heading into their final series against a strong UCLA team, the Beavers' chances for saving their season looked slim.

And then led by junior shortstop Darwin Barney, they snapped out of it. Oregon State won two out of three games against the Bruins, which was just good enough to sneak into the NCAA regionals.

Since that series, the Beavers have been the hottest team in college baseball, breezing through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and winning their first three games of the College World Series to get back to the Finals.

"When we were going through our skid, we knew it was just part of baseball," said Barney, a co-captain on the team. "We've always been confident and known that we're a good club. It was just a matter of putting things together."

Barney, a fourth-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs, has been an instrumental leader all season, helping the Beavers transform into another formidable championship contender.

"From day one it was a battle," Barney said of trying to help the younger players mature. "It was about teaching these young kids how to win. There's a lot of good players out there that don't know how to win. That's the biggest difference in our club. We have some leaders, and we know what it takes."

When head coach Pat Casey visited Barney's home for a recruiting visit three years ago, he already had most of the pieces set to build a national powerhouse. But Casey believed the talent he had compiled would be useless unless he had a player that could lead them. He wanted Barney to be that leader.

"Coach Casey came into my living room and said to me, 'We need a guy like you to win the World Series. I want you to lead this team,'" Darwin recalled. "I kind of looked at him and laughed a little bit. I thought it was kind of funny."

It may have been funny then, but Casey knew exactly what he was doing. Oregon State has reached the College World Series every year since Barney, a native of Beaverton, Ore., joined the team in 2004.

The success is not a coincidence. After the Beavers won the championship last summer, Barney went on to win a gold medal at the world university championships as a member of Team USA.

"I've been very blessed," Barney said modestly.

This year's team presented Barney with a new challenge. As one of only two returning position players from the championship team, Barney was in charge of helping develop several of the younger players, including freshman second baseman Joey Wong.

"Darwin's got a lot to do with [Wong's] confidence level," Casey said. "He makes it so easy out there for Joey because he's got such a great feel for the game."

That was never more evident than in the Beavers' 7-1 win against UC-Irvine on Wednesday night to put the Beavers in the Finals. Barney went 3-for-5 in the game, including a two-out RBI single in the fifth inning that extended Oregon State's lead to four.

"We had a guy on third and I couldn't get him in," said catcher Mitch Canham, the No. 57 pick of the San Diego Padres. "Darwin comes up with two outs and puts the ball in left field and scores him.

"He's been making plays like that his whole career."

With three hits against Irvine, Barney has 235 as a Beaver, one away from tying the Oregon State record for hits in a career.

But Barney doesn't care about individual accolades. Barney refuses to stand out above his teammates.

"I have a lot special people around me that make me who I am," he said. "I'm not Darwin Barney on the baseball team. I'm an Oregon State Beaver. That's how you have to go about it if you want to win a championship."

He should know.

Jeffrey Birnbaum is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.