The last NCAA championship of 2005-06 produced a first-time winner.

Actually, no matter the outcome of the best-of-three final between Oregon State and North Carolina, one of the programs stood to bring home its first Men’s College World Series trophy.

In Game 3, unseeded Oregon State completed an improbable run through the bracket and staved off elimination for the sixth time in Omaha by defeating North Carolina, 3-2, in front of 18,565 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium June 26.

The Beavers joined the school’s 1961 men’s cross country team as the only Oregon State programs to capture national championships.

In the process, they became the first team to lose twice in the MCWS and win the tournament.

The Beavers, the only team from the 2005 field to make a return trip to Omaha, didn’t have the look of a champion after losing, 11-1, to Miami (Florida) in their opening game.

"They’re the ones that did it between the white lines," said Oregon State coach Pat Casey of his players. "I told our team everything done here outside the white lines is for the fans. When you cross the white lines, it’s a baseball game. I told them you can’t play under pressure. It’s just a game. Get ’em on, get ’em over and get ’em in."

No wonder the Beavers maintained their poise even as they repeatedly faced elimination. Oregon State defeated Georgia, 5-3, in its first elimination game and kept building momentum from there.

The Beavers won a rematch with Miami, 8-1, and then posted a pair of shutouts over top-seeded Rice, 5-0 and 2-0, to set up the championship series with North Carolina.

After dropping Game 1 of the final series to the Tar Heels, 4-3, the Beavers overcame a 5-0 deficit in the fourth inning of Game 2. Oregon State put together a seven-run rally in the bottom of the fourth and went on to win, 11-7, to set up a winner-take-all showdown.

Oregon State, which became the 10th team to lose its first game in the MCWS and recover to win the title, won Game 3 by making fewer mistakes.

The Beavers, who ended the season 50-16, scored twice in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a pair of errors by North Carolina starting pitcher Daniel Bard and a run-scoring single by Shea McFeely.

North Carolina came right back with two runs in the fifth against Oregon State’s Jonah Nickerson, who was making his third start in eight days for the Beavers.

The Tar Heels, 54-15, had a chance to take the lead in the top of the eighth when they loaded the bases with one out.

Casey called on Dallas Buck for his first relief appearance of the season. Buck struck out Williams and then got ahead in the count on Johnson.

With two strikes, North Carolina’s Josh Horton attempted to steal home, but Johnson swung through a pitch out of the strike zone to end the inning.

"We just took a gamble," said North Carolina coach Mike Fox of the unusual and daring play. "We should have done it the pitch before. It was some crazy baseball. It was me and Josh (Horton) making that play. I just told him to duck his head and say a prayer. I thought we had it. I’m just glad that he wasn’t hurt; that’s more important than anything."

In the bottom of the inning, Oregon State’s Bill Rowe drew a two-out walk, and Tyler Graham blooped a single into left. Tar Heels ace Andrew Miller, the No. 6 overall pick by the Detroit Tigers, came on in relief of Bard, who was also a first-round draft pick.

Miller induced Ryan Gipson to one-hop a grounder to second baseman Bryan Steed, but Steed threw the ball past first baseman Tim Federowicz for the Tar Heels’ fourth error of the game and Rowe scored the go-ahead run.

Gunderson retired Horton on a fielder’s choice, and with the tying run on third, Chad Flack flew out to center field for the last out.

"You’ve got to be lucky to win a national championship," said Gunderson, who led the nation with 20 saves. "We got the right breaks when we needed them. Someone was looking out over our heads. For everyone who doubted us all year, it proves we can play ball."

The MCWS drew 310,609 fans, which set an attendance mark for the event. It’s the first time attendance surpassed 300,000.

Game No. 1

Georgia Tech 300 000 100—4 8 1

Clemson 000 000 08x—8 9 0

Lee Hyde, Brad Rulon (8), Ryan Turner (8), Jared Hyatt (8), Tim Ladd (8) and Matt Wieters; Sean Clark, Ryan Hinson (7), Daniel Moskos and Adrian Casanova. W—Hinson. L—Turner. HR—Jeff Kindel (Georgia Tech), Andy D’Alessio (Clemson). A—16,045.

Game No. 2

North Carolina 220 010 000 000 2—7 15 2

Cal St. Fullerton 113 000 000 000 0—5 11 0

Andrew Miller, Jonathan Hovis (8), Matt Danford (10), Andrew Carignan (13) and Tim Federowicz; Wes Roemer, Ryan Paul (9), Lauren Gagnier (11), Adam Jorgenson (13) and John Curtis. W—Danford. L—Gagnier. S—Carignan. HR—Reid Fronk (North Carolina), Benji Johnson (North Carolina), Jared Clark (Cal St. Fullerton), Evan McArthur (Cal St. Fullerton). A—23,385.

Game No. 3

Georgia 000 000 400—4 5 1

Rice 000 101 40x—6 11 1

Brooks Brown, Rip Warren (6), Joshua Fields (8) and Jason Jacobs; Eddie Degerman, Cole St. Clair (7), Bryce Cox (7) and Danny Lehmann. W—Cox. L—Warren. A—19,885.

Miami (Fla.) 230 020 040—11 11 0

Oregon St. 000 000 010— 1 6 1

Scott Maine, John McLean (8), Andrew Lane (9) and Eddy Rodriguez; Dallas Buck, Daniel Turpen (6), Eddie Kunz (7), Joe Paterson (8), Mark Grbavac (9) and Mitch Canham. W—Maine. L—Buck. HR—Dennis Raben (Miami). A—25,417.

Game No. 5

Cal St. Fullerton 000 112 003—7 15 1

Georgia Tech 301 000 100—5 9 0

Dustin Miller, John Estes (7), Adam Jorgenson (7), Ryan Paul (8) and John Curtis; Blake Wood, Tim Wood (6), Brad Rulon (7), Matt Wieters (9) and Andy Hawranick. W—Paul. L—Wieters. HR—Wieters (Georgia Tech). A—18,974.

Game No. 6

Clemson 000 000 000—0 3 1

North Carolina 002 000 00x—2 7 2

Stephen Faris and Adrian Casanova; Robert Woodard and Benji Johnson. W—Woodard. L—Faris. A—21, 329.

Game No. 7

Rice 200 100 000—3 7 3

Miami (Fla.) 001 000 100 —2 10 2

Cole St. Clair, Bobby Bell (6), Bryce Cox (7) and Danny Lehmann; Danny Gil, Andrew Lane (7), Jon McLean (8), Chris Perez (9) and Eddy Rodriguez. W—St. Clair. L—Gil. S—Cox. HR—Tyler Henley (Rice). A—22, 283.

Game No. 8

Oregon St. 011 200 010—5 12 2

Georgia 001 010 010—3 7 1

Jonah Nickerson, Kevin Gunderson (8) and Mitch Canham; Mickey Westphal, Trevor Holder (5), Rip Warren (7), Joshua Fields (9) and Jason Jacobs. W—Nickerson. L—Westphal. S—Gunderson. HR—Jonathan Wyatt (Georgia). A—17,135.

Game No. 9

Cal St. Fullerton 300 000 310—7 15 1

Clemson 310 200 000—6 13 0

Lauren Gagnier, Adam Jorgenson (7), Ryan Paul (9), Wes Roemer (9) and John Curtis; Jason Berken, P.J. Zocchi (1), Ryan Hinson (7), David Kopp (7), Daniel Moskos (8) and Adrian Casanova. W—Jorgenson. L—Kopp. S—Roemer. HR—David Cooper (Cal St. Fullerton).

Game No. 10

Oregon St. 104 110 001—8 13 0

Miami (Fla.) 000 000 100—1 5 1

Mike Stutes, Eddie Kunz (7), Kevin Gunderson (8) and Mitch Canham; Carlos Gutierrez, Marcelo Albir (3), Jon McLean (3), Chris Perez (6), Ricky Orta (8) and Eddy Rodriguez. W—Stutes. L—Gutierrez. HR—Shea McFeely (Oregon St.), Dennis Raben (Miami). A—26,241.

Game No. 11

North Carolina 004 020 000—6 13 1

Cal St. Fullerton 021 000 200—5 14 2

Daniel Bard, Jonathan Hovis (7), Andrew Carignan (8), Andrew Miller (9) and Benji Johnson; Wes Roemer, John Estes (5), Adam Jorgenson (6), Ryan Paul (9) and John Curtis. W—Bard. L—Roemer. S—Miller. HR—Jay Cox (North Carolina), Tim Federowicz (North Carolina). A—17,000.

Game No. 12

Rice 000 000 000—0 5 0

Oregon St. 003 001 10x—5 7 0

Craig Crow, Bobby Bramhall (3), Will McDaniel (8) and Danny Lehmann; Daniel Turpen, Joe Paterson and Mitch Canham. W—Turpen. L—Crow. HR—Shea McFeely (Oregon St.). A—30,335.

Game No. 13

Oregon St. 010 010 000—2 3 0

Rice 000 000 000—0 2 0

Jonah Nickerson, Kevin Grunderson (8) and Mitch Canham; Eddie Degerman, Bryce Cox (5) and Danny Lehmann. W—Nickerson. L—Degerman. S—Grunderson. A—19,161.

Championship Game 1

Darwin Barney ss 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 5

John Wallace rf 4 1 1 0 0 2 1 0

Cole Gillespie lf 3 1 2 2 0 1 0 0

Mike Lissman dh 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0

Tyler Graham cf 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0

Bill Rowe 1b 2 0 1 0 2 0 17 1

Shea McFeely 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 4

Chris Kunda 2b 2 1 1 0 2 0 1 7

Mitch Canham c 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 1

Dallas Buck p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Joe Paterson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Eddie Kunz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 27 3 9 3 5 7 24 19

Mike Cavasinni cf 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0

Reid Fronk 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 5

Kyle Shelton ph/2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Josh Horton ss 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 4

Chad Flack 1b 4 3 4 0 0 0 11 0

Jay Cox lf 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 0

Tim Federowicz c 4 0 1 1 0 0 7 1

Seth Williams rf 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 0

Benji Johnson dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Garrett Gore 2b/3b 3 0 1 0 0 1 5 4

Andrew Miller p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Matt Danford p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Jonathan Hovis p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Andrew Carignan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 33 4 10 3 1 4 27 17

Oregon St 001 002 000 — 3 9 0

North Carolina 200 001 01x — 4 10 1

E—Miller, A(3). DP—Oregon St. 1; North Carolina 2. LOB—Oregon St. 8; North Carolina 6. 2B—Kunda; Gore. 3B—Flack. HR—Gillespie. HBP—Gillespie. SH—Wallace; Lissman(4); Graham(7); Canham(8). SF—Barney. CS—Barney.

Dallas Buck 6.1 9 3 3 1 4 27 28

Joe Paterson 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 4 4

Eddie Kunz 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2