OMAHA, Neb. -- Dave Van Horn has coached often enough in these situations -- well, never in this exact spot, one win from a national championship, though he has brought seven teams to the College World Series -- to know what his club needs and when it needs it.
What Arkansas needed Tuesday night in Game 1 of the CWS finals, to be clear, was a victory.
"When you've got a true ace who just keeps winning," Van Horn said after Arkansas beat Oregon State 4-1 behind unbeaten right-hander Blaine Knight, "yeah, you've got to get that one."
Put a different way, Arkansas (48-19) lost consecutive games to the same opponent five times this spring in the rugged Southeastern Conference. It happened once in the Pac-12 to Oregon State.
The Beavers, (53-12-1) with a two-time national-championship coach and three first-round draft picks in the lineup, could withstand a loss more easily in the opening game of the best-of-three series.
So with Game 2 on tap Wednesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN and the ESPN app), are we destined for a winner-take-all finale on Thursday?
Not if Arkansas capitalizes again so crisply on momentum as it did Tuesday. Van Horn's team struck out 16 times against beleaguered Oregon State starter Luke Heimlich and reliever Christian Chamberlain.
But when Adley Rutschman, the Beavers' star catcher who had done no wrong in Omaha before Tuesday, was called for interference on the bases, a wave of energy pulsed through TD Ameritrade Park, filled to the brim with Arkansas fans eager for the school's first national title in baseball.
The baserunning blunder erased an Oregon State run in the bottom of the fourth inning. It killed a rally with the Beavers already up 1-0.
"Baseball's a funny game," Rutschman said. "Sometimes you can't explain why things happen."
Second baseman Nick Madrigal saw the moment for what it was.
"Momentum definitely got on their side," he said.
It might be the moment, when this week is finished, that turned the series for Arkansas -- a kickstart that the Razorbacks desperately needed Tuesday night to avoid a sweep at the hands of a team that had won four straight in Omaha with its backs to the wall.
"We've been in this position before," Madrigal said. "We're not going to approach it any different. We've got to show up or the season's over. But we're not going to put any added pressure on ourselves."
The pressure, it seems, is mounting on Oregon State. How else to explain Heimlich's third consecutive poor outing? For four innings Tuesday, he looked like the 16-game winner who helped carry the Beavers to Omaha.
Beavers' Adley Chamberlain is called out for interference after not sliding into second, resulting in two outs and prevents a run from scoring.
But as soon as the bottom of the fourth sparked the Razorbacks, Heimlich and the Beavers crumbled. To end Heimlich's night, Madrigal committed an error, his second of the CWS after the fourth pick in the recent Major League Baseball amateur draft was perfect in the field through 60 games of the regular season, regional and super regional.
"That's baseball," the captain said.
In the top of the ninth, Rutschman and third baseman Michael Gretler collided in foul territory as a ball fell to the grass.
They were just out of sync. For Oregon State, Bryce Fehmel provides hope. The junior right-hander is 10-1 with a 3.16 ERA. He's almost certain to get the ball Wednesday.
Fehmel, like Heimlich, has struggled in Omaha. The Beavers' top two starters are winless in five starts at the CWS this year after posting a 26-2 mark in 34 starts before the CWS. In his two outings last week, Fehmel gave up six runs and 11 hits in 7⅔ innings.
"I'll be ready to go," Fehmel said, "whatever the situation is."
The situation is this: Oregon State needs a win. Still, it's a better spot than Arkansas would have found itself Wednesday had it lost the opener.
The Razorbacks look next to junior left Kacey Murphy, 8-5 with a 3.15 ERA in 16 starts. He's surely not Knight, who moved to 14-0 on Tuesday.
"Murphy's had some great outings," Van Horn said, "and our offense has carried us in some games this year."
The Hogs' 16th-year coach nodded. "But it takes a little pressure off."
A lot of pressure.
"I just want them to come out with the attitude that tomorrow is do or die," Van Horn said. "I think we play a little better that way."
They did on Tuesday.