The Jayhawks (43-24) now must win three consecutive games today and Monday to advance to the Super Regionals. They play Hawaii, a team they defeated 9-6 on Friday in the opening round, at 3 p.m. today in an elimination game.

An All-America junior right-hander, Nickerson stifled the potent KU offense on three hits through 72â3 innings. He struck out eight, overpowered KU early and then mixed his pitches effectively in the later innings. The top six hitters in KU’s lineup were a combined 2-for-20 with eight strikeouts; they totaled 12 hits in Friday’s comeback win against the Rainbows.

“(Nickerson’s) pretty good,” said KU senior first baseman Jared Schweitzer, who was 0-for-2 with two walks after hitting for the cycle on Friday. “His fastball had a lot of life on it.

“He didn’t look that hard from the on-deck circle, but once you got up there, he had a lot of late life on his fastball, and he pitched effectively.”

Sophomore designated hitter Brock Simpson and sophomore second baseman Ryne Price had solo homers, and sophomore left fielder John Allman had an RBI infield single for the Jayhawks. Otherwise, their bats were mostly silent, as Nickerson set KU down in order in five of the eight innings he started. Reliever Kevin Gunderson escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by retiring Erik Morrison on a grounder to third, and then pitched a perfect ninth.

Nickerson didn’t allow a hit until Simpson bombed a two-strike fastball well over the 330-foot mark in right field.

“It was a fastball. low and in,” Simpson said. “I was looking there, I had a feeling he was going to come in on me. I just put a good swing on it.”

The Beavers (41-14) gave Nickerson all the support he’d need by rocking KU starter Sean Land for seven runs in the second inning. The first seven batters all scored; senior second baseman Chris Kunda capped the rally with a three-run homer over the left-field wall.

“We got buried early, and Nickerson was the story,” KU coach Ritch Price said. “He was absolutely outstanding. He completely dominated us, pitched with his fastball, (worked) the zone on both sides of the plate and pretty much had his way with us.

“We’ve seen a lot of good arms this season, and (Nickerson’s) certainly one of the best. He’s as good as advertised. I was told he’s going to be a second- or third-round draft choice when we came in here, and he did a nice job.

“I was somewhat surprised he was able to dominate us with the fastball in the early innings. He didn’t use his charge or breaking ball very much. He sat on (the fastball) until we showed we could hit it, and we didn’t do a good job of handling his fastball.”

Kunda added a two-run homer in the fourth to knock Land out of the game. Andy Marks pitched 32â3 innings of solid relief until the Beavers scored two insurance runs in the eighth, offsetting offset a pair by KU in the top of the inning that briefly raised the hopes of the 100 or so supporters in the crowd of 2,967 at Goss Stadium.

More renowned for his glove – Kunda was named the Pacific-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year earlier this week – Kunda had hit just one homer in his previous 149 games. He finished with five RBIs and has seven in OSU’s two regional games – his two-run double on Friday broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning in OSU’s 5-3 victory against Wright State.

Senior left fielder Cole Gillespie, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, added three doubles and drove in the final two runs in the last of the eighth after KU had rallied within 9-3 with two runs in the top of the eighth.

“I know Kunda is an outstanding player because I follow Oregon State every week on the website, having grown up in the state,” said Price, a native of nearby Sweet Home, Ore. “We didn’t look very smart today, when you look it up.

“We let Kunda and Gillespie beat us up. We got behind in the count with runners in scoring position and let their two best players destroy us, and, like good players, they absolutely hammered us.”

The Jayhawks had never played the Beavers in their 117-year history of varsity baseball. They hope to get an immediate rematch at 8 p.m. today if they can get by Hawaii. The winner of the KU-Hawaii game must defeat Oregon State tonight and on Monday to advance to the Super Regional.

Senior right-hander Ricky Fairchild (6-6, 5.65) is KU’s expected starter this afternoon, to be opposed by senior lefty Mark Rodrigues (4-2, 4.14) or junior right-hander Steve Wright (11-2, 2.30), the Hawaii ace who has been out with the flu.

“We have our back to wall, but we’ll do the same thing we always do,” said Price, whose team had won eight games in a row before Saturday. “We’ll walk in there (this) morning and flush Game 2 and find a way to beat Hawaii and play Oregon State again.

“We’d like to play them again. They have an outstanding team. They’re certainly one of the ten best teams in the country. If you win the Pac-10, Big 12, ACC or the SEC you should be a (top 8) seed, no questions asked.”