They’re making Beavers believers

While attending rival high schools, KJ Harrison and Christian Donahue mulled the prospect of playing on the same side of the field after graduation.

They met on a youth team coached by Donahue’s father and “from early on we’re like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we played in college together?’,” Donahue recalled. “We’d say it for fun, but we never thought it would actually happen.”

Harrison committed to Oregon State early in his Punahou career and Donahue joined him in signing with the Beavers as an ‘Iolani senior.

Now juniors in Corvallis, they’re part of arguably college baseball’s leading story line midway through the season with the Beavers (28-1) now the consensus No. 1 team in the land and riding a school-record winning streak.

“It’s a lot of fun, and to be able to be a part of something special like this is amazing,” Harrison said. “But there’s still a long season ahead of us and at the end of the year we’re looking to go to Omaha and win a national championship.”

Following a loss to Ohio State on Feb. 24, the Beavers have won 23 straight, one shy of the Pac-12 mark set by Arizona State in 2010. Tuesday’s scheduled game against Gonzaga was rained out and the Beavers will put the streak on the line again on Thursday against Washington in Seattle.

With the Beavers coming off a 35-19 season that ended without an NCAA tournament berth last spring, Harrison and Donahue both sensed a new energy when the Beavers reported for fall practice.

“We still had a little salt taste in our mouths after last year not making it to (the regionals),” said Harrison, a two-time first-team All-Pac-12 selection. “For us it was a year of redemption and a year of us showing everybody why we should be where we are.”

Six of OSU’s past 11 wins were decided by one run, including a 4-3 win over No. 9 Arizona on March 24 capped by Harrison’s walk-off RBI single and a 16-inning win on Saturday in a sweep of Utah.

“If we’re in those situations the past couple years, maybe we don’t pull through,” Donahue said. “I think the team chemistry we have is just different and I really think it’s helping us in the long run.”

Harrison hit safely in all three games against Utah and launched his third home run of the season in OSU’s 5-1 win in the finale. He closed the weekend hitting .345 with 19 RBIs overall. In Pac-12 play, he’s hitting a team-high .423 and has driven in 11 runs in 12 games.

Donahue, a first-team All-Pac-12 pick last season, got a start in left field last Saturday and doubled twice and is hitting .260 with 16 RBIs overall.

Both the sons of former Division I and professional ballplayers (Kenny Harrison and Timo Donahue), Harrison and Donahue kept in touch throughout their ILH careers and are now roommates at Oregon State, where they’re both business majors and planning to go into the same marketing program.

“It’s awesome, it makes it a lot easier to have someone else from the islands experiencing it with me and honestly one of my best friends,” Donahue said. “It’s something we can cherish forever.”

While they’re united in helping sustain Oregon State’s surge, their high school rivalry still pops up from time to time.

“I’ll never forget my senior year in high school. It was our playoff game and C-Boy raked against us,” Harrison said. “He went 4-for-4 and had four RBIs, so he basically single-handedly beat us. … He mentions it once in a while.

“We still keep up and watch our alma maters play; baseball, basketball, football and everything. It’s kind of fun and we still nag each other about it. So it’s very cool.”

While they sometimes look back, both said they’re not looking ahead to the possibilities this June in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft.

“I don’t really think about it,” Harrison said. “It’s there obviously. It’s my junior year and it’s a possibility for me to get drafted, but I just go out there and I play hard, I work hard and I’m focused on the season. That’s the the main goal is for us to go to Omaha and win the national championship. That’s all that’s on my mind. Everything else is secondary.”