BASEBALL

OSU’s Abel named national freshman of the year — Seven days after throwing a two-hitter in the College World Series finals, Oregon State’s Kevin Abel was named national freshman of the year by D1Baseball.com on Thursday morning. Abel led all Division I freshmen with 108 strikeouts and finished with a .181 batting average against in 811⁄3 innings. He went 8-1 (23 appearances, seven starts) and compiled a 2.88 ERA. At the CWS, Abel finished 4-0 — the first four-game winner in CWS history — and struck out 23 in 21 innings with a 0.86 ERA. He was also electric at the Corvallis Regional, throwing eight three-hit innings in a 12-0 victory over LSU. Abel retired 20 Arkansas batters in a row to close Game 3 of the CWS finals, a 5-0 OSU victory that clinched the program’s third national title. He struck out 10 with two walks, throwing 129 pitches.

— From wire reports