OMAHA, Neb. – After watching Blaine Knight hold his team to one run in five innings last season, Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin had a message for Arkansas’ coaching staff.

“If this young man comes back,” Corbin said, “he’ll be the best guy in our league.”

Just as he has all year, the Razorbacks’ ace proved those words to be prophetic Tuesday. Knight held arguably the best lineup in college baseball to one run over six innings, as Arkansas beat Oregon State 4-1 in the first game of the championship series.

The win was his 14th of the year, breaking the UA single-season record previously held by Rich Erwin (1979) and Steve Krueger (1980), and kept the Bryant, Ark., native undefeated during his junior season.

Knight is just the fifth pitcher in the last 20 years to go 14-0 in a season and the first since Wake Forest's Kyle Sleeth in 2002.

Along the way, he has gone head-to-head with some of the best pitchers in the game – Casey Mize, Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Ryan Rolison and now Luke Heimlich – and come away with victories.

“For me, I don’t care what anybody said, the young man was 14-0 and he’s beat everybody in the country,” pitching coach Wes Johnson said. “He’s the best guy in college baseball on the mound in a big game. I’ll take him over anybody in the country.”

On Tuesday, Knight scattered seven hits and one walk in his six innings of work. He also struck out six batters – his highest total since May 11, when he had 11 strikeouts against Texas A&M.

The key to his success against the Beavers was his fastball command, something he had struggled with in recent weeks. Johnson said four of his six strikeouts came on the pitch.

“One of the things I (told him was) we have to get back to getting fastball command,” Johnson said. “That’s when he’s really at his best. He’s really been surviving these last four starts on just a lot of breaking balls.”

Oregon State right fielder Trevor Larnach was really the only player to figure him out Tuesday, as he hit a couple of doubles off Knight and scored his team’s lone run. One of them was a solidly hit ball, but the other was a pop up that Heston Kjerstad lost in the sun and ended up bouncing over the fence for a ground rule double.

“I think he did a pretty solid job commanding his off-speed,” Larnach said. “Some of our guys were off balance. … If you can command everything, it’s pretty tough.”

Coming into the game, the Beavers were ranked in the top five nationally in batting average (.323), on-base percentage (.419) and slugging percentage (.494) and were eighth in runs per game (7.8).

Knight set the tone by striking out Oregon State center fielder and leadoff man Steven Kwan, who entered the night as the 13th-toughest player to strike out in Division I baseball. He also struck out consecutive batters to limit the damage in the second inning and got Michael Gretler to swing at strike three and strand a runner at third in the fourth.

In the fifth inning, Knight induced a lineout by All-American second baseman Nick Madrigal to end a first-and-third threat.

“The key was just trying to keep them from fitting pitches because that’s what they like to do a lot,” Knight said. “They battled, tried to drive up my pitch count, and I was able to execute pitches when the jams came along and just get out of them.”

Head coach Dave Van Horn has said numerous times this season after his starts that Knight didn’t necessarily have his best stuff, but he still gave the Razorbacks quality innings and a chance to win.

That stems from the right-hander’s competitiveness on the mound, which Johnson said would go down as the best he’s seen from a pitcher in his time as a coach. Grant Koch, who has caught Knight the last three years, agreed with that assessment.

“I think it’s his mindset that sets him apart from a lot of people,” Koch said. “You want that guy on the mound and you’re going to fight for that guy on defense.”

Although he was a draft-eligible sophomore last season, Knight chose to come back to school, put on some weight and try to improve his draft stock. Earlier this month, the Baltimore Orioles swooped him up in the third round and with the 87th overall pick, which has a slot value of $663,200.

In the process, Knight has put the Razorbacks on the brink of their first national championship in baseball.

“He got a couple no-decisions, got a lot of wins and just a lot of stability,” Van Horn said. “It was kind of surreal knowing that was the last time he’s going to probably step on the mound for us.”