Over the last 25 years, there have been a number of really good Oregon State teams, including three national championships and seven total College World Series appearances for the baseball team alone.
Or how about five Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and a Final four for the women’s basketball program, and an Elite Eight appearance for the men’s program.
The softball program reached the Women’s College World Series twice, the men’s soccer team made the College Cup and the gymnastics team the Super Six.
And who can forget the football team’s dominant performance in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl blowout of Notre Dame to cap an 11-1 season.
We will be counting down the top 25 teams in our minds over three Saturdays, starting with teams 25-16.
It wasn’t an easy task, and by no means do we think we got it “right” with the rankings or even the 25 teams.
People are also reading…
But we do hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.
From left, Jeff Hendrix, Michael Conforto and Michael Howard celebrate after Hendrix and Conforto scored in a game against Stanford in 2014. The Beavers were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament but lost in a home regional.
Jesse Skoubo, Mid-Valley Media (File 2014)
25. 2014 baseball
The 2014 baseball team could have been much higher on this list.
The Beavers put together a very strong regular season that earned them the No. 1 national seed in the tournament. The team had dominant pitching from the likes of Ben Wetzler and Jace Fry, and strong hitting from future major leaguer Michael Conforto.
But then, the postseason happened.
Oregon State went 3-2 in its home regional, losing to UC Irvine twice and failing to advance to the supers. After knocking off North Dakota State to open the tourney, the Beavers were blown out by the Anteaters 14-2 in the winners bracket. After rebounding with wins over UNLV and Irvine, they forced a third game against the Anteaters but ultimately fell 4-2.
That loss keeps this team from being higher on the list, but the success in the regular season keeps them on it.
Oregon State went 7-2 in Surprise, Arizona, to start the season and then went on a tear during Pac-12 play, going 23-7 to earn the regular-season title. Highlights include home sweeps over Oregon and Stanford, two teams which made the tournament, with the Cardinal eventually making it to supers.
The season started rocky with the suspension of Wetzler due to violating NCAA rules. When he went on a tear when he returned in March, going 12-1 with a 0.78 ERA and a .143 opponent batting average. Fry was right behind him, going 11-1 with a 1.59 ERA.
Conforto, Jeff Hendrix and Kavin Keyes were the consistent producers offensively for the Beavers, all hitting above .300. It was only 11 years ago, but it feels like a different era as the team combined for 20 home runs the entire season. Gavin Turley had that on his own in 2025.
Even without a lot of power, the team produced in all facets to earn the top seed in the tournament. It just couldn’t keep it going.
Mikayla Pivec, left, here against Boise State in the 2019 NCAA tournament, helped guide the Beavers to a Sweet 16 appearance, the fourth straight years OSU advanced to the second weekend of the tournament.
Mark Ylen, Mid-Valley Media (File 2019)
24: 2018-19 women’s basketball
The Beavers made a run to the Elite Eight the previous season but had some big shoes to fill with the departure of Marie Gülich, who put the team on her shoulders late in the season and throughout the NCAA tournament.
Instead of having a big presence down low, the Beavers turned to their guard play and it more than worked. Destiny Slocum, who had to sit out the 2017-18 season due to transfer rules at the time, picked up some of the scoring slack, leading the Beavers with 15.3 points per game. Mikayla Pivec added 15.2 points and added 9.2 rebounds per game while Aleah Goodman chipped in 10.7.
Kat Tudor was on her way to a standout season, averaging 12.3 points per game through 13 games before an ACL injury ended her season and kept her out until partway through the next season.
The Beavers once again started fast, going 11-2 in the nonconference schedule, including wins over South Carolina and Duke with the losses coming against Notre Dame and Texas A&M.
They started the conference season 9-1 and finished at 14-4 to finish third behind Oregon and Stanford before being upset by Washington in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament.
The Beavers still managed a No. 4 seed and hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. They opened with an 80-75 win over Boise State, then exacted a measure of revenge from 2015 with a 76-70 win over Gonzaga to advance to a fourth straight Sweet 16.
The season ended in Albany, New York, after a tough second half led to a 61-44 loss to No. 1 seed Louisville. It was the second straight year the Cardinals ended the Beavers’ season.
Oregon State started the season No. 8 in the AP poll and finished at No. 11.
Oregon State’s Sarah Haendiges pitches in the first inning of the team’s Women’s College World Series game against Florida in 2022. It was the Beavers’ first trip to the WCWS since 2006.
Alonzo Adams, Associated Press (File 2022)
23: 2022 softball
The 2022 season was a roller-coaster ride for coach Laura Berg and the Beavers, but it ended with a trip to the Women’s College World Series.
Oregon State started the season by splitting its first six games and then caught fire with a 17-game winning streak. The first 14 of those wins came away from home as the Beavers dominated on their traditional warm-weather tour to open the season.
The challenge was to continue that level into Pac-12 Conference play. The Beavers got a series win at home against Stanford and then swept California. Returning home, Oregon State took two out of three against Arizona.
But the team hit a rough patch, losing 10 straight conference games and putting the postseason in doubt. The Beavers closed out conference play with a series win against Utah and were picked for the postseason.
Oregon State was sent to the Knoxville Regional as the No. 3 seed and opened with a win over Ohio State. The Beavers were shut out in their next game against host Tennessee, but rebounded with another win over the Buckeyes to reach the regional final.
Two-way star Mariah Mazon threw a complete game and hit a home run as the Beavers took the first game against Tennessee 8-3.
Then in the winner-take-all game, freshman Sarah Haendiges got the job done in the circle and Mazon hit a two-run home run in a 3-1 victory to win the regional.
Oregon State faced Pac-12 rival Stanford in the Super Regional.
Mazon got the win in the opener as Madison Simon’s two-run home run was the difference in a 3-1 victory.
Haendiges and Mazon then combined for a four-hit shutout as the Beavers swept the series with a 2-0 victory. Grace Messmer’s two-run single provided the game’s only runs and sent the Beavers’ on their way to Oklahoma City for the first time since 2006.
Berg, who had a stellar career of her own as both a collegiate player and representing the United States, said leading the Beavers to the WCWS ranked as her proudest achievement.
“It’s one thing to be able to do it as a player. When you have the bat in your hand, the glove on your hand, the ball in your hand,” she said. “To be able to get a group of incredible young women from 18 to 22 on the same page, in the same boat, rowing in the same direction, it’s different. This is probably the top. The top on my list.”
Oregon State coach Mike Riley, center, celebrates with his players Yvenson Berard, left, and Anthony Wheat-Brown after Oregon State defeated Missouri 39-38 to win the Sun Bowl and cap off a 10-win season in 2006.
LM Otero, Associated Press (File 2006)
22: 2006 football
Early on, the 2006 season didn’t seem like one of the best in the program’s history.
The Beavers lost on the road to Boise State and then lost conference home games against California and Washington State to sit at 2-3 after five games.
Oregon State bounced back with road wins at Washington and Arizona.
The Beavers then upset USC 33-31 in Corvallis. Sammie Stroughter was the star of the day, catching eight passes for 127 yards and returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown.
Oregon State followed up with a home rout of Arizona State and then lost at UCLA. That would be the Beavers’ last loss of the season.
Oregon State handled Stanford before hosting Oregon in the annual rivalry game, which was an instant classic for Beaver Nation.
Derrick Doggett returned an interception for a touchdown as the Beavers built a 27-14 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Ducks rallied with back-to-back touchdowns to take a 28-27 lead with just over 3 minutes left.
With the game on the line, Oregon State quarterback Matt Moore connected with Stroughter on two long passes to put the Beavers in field-goal range.
Alexis Serna then hit a 40-yard field goal — his third of the day — to put the Beavers back out front.
The drama wasn’t over yet, however. A long kickoff return by Jonathan Stewart gave the Ducks great field position. With 20 seconds left to play, the Ducks attempted a 44-yard field goal for the win, but Oregon State defensive lineman Ben Siegert blocked the attempt to preserve the victory.
The Beavers then traveled to Hawaii for a nonconference game and took a hard-fought 35-32 win over the Rainbow Warriors.
Oregon State was matched up against Missouri in the Sun Bowl. This time it was the Beavers who had to rally, scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter in a 39-38 victory.
Moore had a career game, throwing for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Yvenson Bernard added 113 yards on the ground as the Beavers finished the season 10-4, cracking the 10-win mark for just the second time in program history.
Oregon State’s Gary Payton II makes one of his four steals in the loss to VCU in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2016. It was the Beavers’ first appearance in the ‘Big Dance’ since 1990.
Mark Ylen, Mid-Valley Media (File 2016)
21. 2015-16 men’s basketball
When you do something for the first time in 26 years, it’s worthy of recognition.
The 2015-16 men’s basketball team was coming off a modest 17-14 season, and had a bunch of talented freshmen coming in. That group, along with the veterans still around, came together and got the Beavers to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1990.
Tres Tinkle, Stephen Thompson Jr. and Drew Eubanks came to Corvallis and made immediate impacts. Tinkle was the team’s second-leading scorer averaging 13.1 points per game to go with 5.4 rebounds. Thompson Jr. and Eubanks were the third and fourth leading scorers on the team, averaging 10.6 and 7.6 points per game, respectively.
But leading the charge for the Beavers was Gary Payton II, who had 16 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals a game.
The Beavers were 19-13 on the season, going 9-9 in Pac-12 play. Big wins over Oregon, Utah, Cal and USC helped them make the NCAA tournament as a No. 7 seed.
But their time in the tournament was short lived, falling to No. 10 seed VCU 75-67 in the first round.
It was a back and forth game, with the Beavers going on a 10-0 run in the second half down eight, with a highlight-reel Payton dunk giving Oregon State the lead. But VCU was an experienced tournament team at that point, and was too much for the Beavers in the end.
It would be another five years before the Beavers made the tournament again, but this group, especially the leading four, turned things around for the program and delivered years of real strong production.
Oregon State senior Ali Gibson takes her turn cutting the net after the Beavers won the outright regular season Pac-12 title in 2015.
Mark Ylen, Mid-Valley Media (File 2015)
20: 2014-15 women’s basketball
Scott Rueck’s group was fresh off an NCAA tournament appearance the year before and were looking to not only get back to the postseason but challenge for the Pac-12 title.
That’s exactly what they did.
The Beavers opened the season reeling off 10 straight wins before a tough 74-63 loss at Tennessee.
You could say they bounced back just fine, opening Pac-12 play with 10 straight wins to sit at 20-1.
After a hiccup at Washington ended the win streak, the Beavers won five straight and had visions of winning the Pac-12 title against the team that had dominated the conference for quite some time — Stanford.
Before a sellout crowd inside Gill Coliseum, Tara Vanderveer’s Cardinal brought the Beavers back down to Earth with a 69-58 win.
But it only delayed the inevitable as the Beavers steamrolled Cal 73-55 to celebrate the conference title two days later.
The excitement of the conference title was short lived as the Beavers dropped a 68-65 decision to Colorado in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament.
Still, the Beavers had done enough with a 26-4 overall record to earn a No. 3 seed and the chance to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament.
For the second year in a row, the Beavers opened the tourney with a win, this time 74-62 over South Dakota State.
But the breakthrough season ended with a 76-64 loss to a Gonzaga team that was seeded No. 11 but probably could have and should have been much higher.
Ruth Hamblin was a third-team All-American after averaging 12.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3,.8 blocks per game.
Jamie Weisner led the Beavers with 13.7 points per game with Sydney Wiese chipping in 12.7 and 5.6 assists per game.
Ali Gibson closed her career averaging 8.7 points per game.
While the season had a disappointing ending, the Beavers had a lot to feel good about. They set a school record with 27 victories and won the program’s first Pac-12 regular-season title. They were ranked in the top 10 for much of the season and were as high as No. 7, the best ranking in school history.
“I mean, it hurts right now for sure,” Wiese said after the Gonzaga loss. “We wanted to get a lot deeper into this tournament. But we won a Pac-12 championship this year. That’s pretty incredible.
“You’ve got to take all the highs and lows evenly, I think. Appreciate the good moments and the bad moments, but I think it’s important for us going into the offseason to remember the bad moments a little bit more just to give us that fuel.”
Tayla Woods (21) and Oregon State made the Sweet 16 for the first time in 2014 before falling to Stanford.
Amanda Cowan, Mid-Valley Media (File 2014)
19: 2014 volleyball
Coming off a winless Pac-12 season in 2013, expectations weren’t all that high for the volleyball program in 2014.
So of course the Beavers put together one of their best seasons and earned the program’s third ever NCAA tournament berth and the first in a decade.
Not only that, the Beavers won their first ever tournament match, then won another and just like that, the Beavers were in the Sweet 16.
Standing in their way was Pac-12 rival and No. 1 seed Stanford.
The Beavers were 0-60 against the Cardinal so it’s no surprise there would be no Hollywood ending.
Oregon State won seven straight to get the season started on a positive note and was 9-2 entering Pac-12 play. After an opening loss to Oregon, the Beavers ended their conference losing streak with back-to-back wins over Utah and California.
The Beavers wrapped up an back-and-forth conference season with a win over Oregon to finish 9-11 in conference play and some confidence heading into the postseason.
Oregon State then defeated Creighton 3-1 and Little Rock 3-2 to advance to the Sweet 16. In that match, OSU overcame eight match points in the fourth and fifth sets, and won 19-17 in the fifth set.
“I think that’s what personifies Oregon State volleyball,” senior Tayla Woods said before the Stanford match. “We have been through so many ups and downs, so many hurdles, so many things stacked against us and yet we never give up.
“Whenever you do that, amazing things can happen and I think we all know that. We’re just going into Stanford expecting an upset because no matter what we’re a team, we work together and we can get it done.”
Woods was among the standouts on the team, finishing with 1,232 assists. Mary-Kate Marshall, the Pac-12 freshman of the year, led the team with 520 kills. Also contributing to the team’s success were Katelyn Driscoll, Arica Nassar, Amanda Brown, Laura Schauldt and Darby Reader.
The Beavers couldn’t build off that Sweet 16 performance as they had losing seasons the next two years before making it back to the NCAA tournament in 2017. However, they lost in the first round and have not been back since.
Baylor catcher Zach Dillon, right, tags out Oregon State’s Ryan Gipson at home plate in the sixth inning of a College World Series elimination game in 2005. The Beavers advanced to the CWS for the first time since 1952 but went 0-2.
TED KIRK, Associated Press (File 2005)
18. 2005 baseball
Sometimes, it’s a climb to the top instead of an instant leap.
The runs Oregon State baseball made in 2006 and 2007 are legendary, asserting the Beavers as one of the premier programs in the country.
But let’s not forget about the one right before it that set the table.
One could argue the 2005 team is on the same level as the ones that followed. Obviously, postseason success plays a part in this list and going 0-2 in the College World Series is a big reason it’s not higher. But that doesn’t diminish what this team accomplished and how it helped the program moving forward.
Oregon State’s run to the CWS marked the program’s first appearance in 53 years, dating back to 1952. It finished the 2005 campaign with a 46-12 record.
There were a handful of impactful players in 2005 that came back and reached the mountaintop the next year, including all-Pac-10 selections Darwin Barney, Dallas Buck, Kevin Gunderson and Jonah Nickerson. Also part of that group was current coach Mitch Canham.
But the leader in the clubhouse was one whose run ended in 2005. Jacoby Ellsbury didn’t get to win a title with Oregon State, but he did all he could to get the team there, hitting .412 on the season with 92 hits. He was named the Pac-10’s co-player of the year.
The Beavers won the Pac-10 title for the first time in program history and set a then-program record for most conference wins in a season, helping them earn the No. 8 national seed.
They then swept through the Corvallis Regional against Ohio State and St. Johns twice, and then faced conference foe USC in the supers. Oregon State won Game 1 but dropped Game 2. It was able to turn around and get a 10-8 victory to advance to the world series, with Andy Jenkins hitting for the cycle in that one to lead the way.
The team didn’t reach the heights as others higher on this list, but that all may not be possible without the efforts of this group.
Oregon State guard Ethan Thompson, left, and Maurice Calloo react to a play against Houston during the second half of an Elite Eight game in 2021. The Beavers won the Pac-12 tournament title to get the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament then won three games.
Michael Conroy, Associated Press (File 2021)
17. 2020-21 men’s basketball
If it’s not clear at this point, postseason success goes a long way in deciding this ranking. Because if we looked solely at the regular season, this team probably wouldn’t be close to making this list.
Oregon State finished the shortened 2021 regular season with a 14-12 record. It was mildly above expectations as the team was projected to finish last in the conference and instead finished sixth, but the team was nowhere near contention in terms of making the NCAA tournament.
And then, all of a sudden, the switch flipped.
The Beavers went on the run of all runs, knocking off UCLA in overtime, then Oregon and finally Colorado to win the Pac-12 tournament title and steal a bid for the NCAA tournament.
And the run didn’t stop there as No. 12 seed Oregon State upset No. 5 Tennessee, followed by wins over No. 11 Oklahoma State and No. 8 Loyola-Chicago to make it to the Elite Eight. It was the first time they made it out of the first round since 1982.
Ethan Thompson, the team’s leading scorer, had big games in the tournament, with 26 points against the Cowboys and 22 against the Ramblers. Warith Alatishe was big on the glass as well, with double-digit rebounds in both of those games.
The run came to an end in the Elite Eight, with No. 6 Houston getting the win 67-61. The Beavers were down 17 at the half and roared back to tie it in the final minutes, but couldn’t get over the hump to steal the win.
It was one of the Cinderella runs that we see in March all the time. When you look at the whole season, this team may fall behind others on this list, but a run like that earns a placement in Oregon State history.
Oregon State’s Mouhameth Thiam, left, celebrates with teammate Tyrone Mondi after scoring the lone goal against New Hampshire to send the Beavers to the Elite Eight in 2021.
Andy Cripe, Mid-Valley Media (File 2021)
16: 2021 men’s soccer
The conference didn’t sponsor men’s soccer until the 2000 season. The Beavers had some success in what was then the Pac-10, making two trips to the NCAA tournament under coach Dana Taylor (2002 and 2003).
Steve Simmons took over in 2009 and led Oregon State to the tournament in 2014.
The Beavers took their success to the next level with the arrival of coach Terry Boss in 2018. He led the Beavers back to the tournament in 2018 and 2020.
That paved the way for what was then the most successful season in the program’s history in 2021. The Beavers went 12-2-3 in the regular season, won their first ever Pac-12 Conference championship and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
The key victory was against top-ranked Washington in Seattle. The eighth-ranked Beavers trailed 2-1 early in the second half but rallied to tie the game on a goal by Joran Gerbet in the 73rd minute.
Mouhameth Thiam made a penalty kick in the 86th minute to give the Beavers the win, the program’s first against a team ranked No. 1.
“I love this team and how they love and care and fight for one another,” Boss said.
Oregon State earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and received a first-round bye. The Beavers then won home games over St. John’s and New Hampshire to advance to the quarterfinals.
Oregon State hosted No. 8 seed Clemson with a spot in the College Cup on the line. The teams put up a fight worthy of the occasion.
Sofiane Djeffal scored the only goal of the game for the Beavers in the 29th minute. It looked like that goal was going to hold up, but the Tigers got the equalizer in the 84th minute on a penalty kick.
Neither team scored in overtime and the game came down to penalty kicks. The Beavers missed twice and the Tigers advanced 4-3.
After noting how “cruel” penalty kicks can be, Boss summed up his thoughts on the year.
“My overall feeling is thankfulness for this group of seniors that started this journey with us in 2018 with nothing but a belief that this is possible and thankful for the fans that came out and supported this group,” Boss said.
Related in the series:
Introducing our quarter-century teams
A look at the 13 members of the Oregon State women’s basketball quarter century team
A look at the 13 members of the Oregon State men’s basketball quarter-century team
Steve Gress is the deputy editor for Mid-Valley Media. He can be reached at steve.gress@lee.net.
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!