The Oregon State Baseball team after months of discussions has decided its future amid unprecedented PAC-12 Conference realignment.
The decision being to not play in a conference next season.
The Oregon State Baseball team has elected to play an independent schedule in 2025, declining an invitation to join the West Coast Conference.
The move to play an independent schedule after the 2024 baseball season comes as OSU Athletics was set to notify the WCC about whether its baseball program would join the 12 other OSU Athletics programs next season.
According to Oregonian sportswriter Joe Freeman, OSU Athletics notified the WCC on Wednesday that the baseball program would not be joining the conference in 2025 and 2026. The move to play an independent schedule, which had been expected, came two days before OSU Athletics was contractually obligated to notify the WCC of the baseball program’s decision.
OSU Athletics continues to iron out the details of the 2025 schedule, but the likely expectation is that it will feature Power Four opponents (including former PAC-12 Conference schools), WCC opponents, Western Athletic Conference opponents, Mountain West Conference opponents, and Big West Conference opponents among others according to Freeman.
“While there seem to be many unknowns in the collegiate landscape, the one thing we know for certain is that Oregon State Baseball will continue to thrive at the highest level. For the time being, we are putting together a schedule playing the best competition available and ensuring our chances of hosting in the postseason,” Oregon State head coach Mitch Canham said in an OSU Athletics statement. “While a handful of the weeks may have different teams to compete against than what we normally have gone up against, the way we train, eat, recover, develop, recruit, travel, and follow our pillars of success, will not change.”
The Beavers baseball program is one of the most prominent programs for OSU Athletics. Beaver Baseball has won three national championships and is annually ranked as one of the best teams in the country as well as qualifying for the postseason 22 times in addition to having seven appearances in the College World Series.
“Given the history, prominence and success of our baseball program as a national power, we are committed to building a national schedule that allows our student-athletes to compete with the best teams and at the highest level possible. We are well on our way to creating this,” Oregon State Athletic Director Scott Barnes said in a statement.
It is currently unknown when the Beavers will finalize their 2025 baseball schedule as most schools have not yet to create theirs for next season. However, what is certain is that the Beavers have a 2024 schedule to look forward to that brings high expectations for the baseball program this year.
The final PAC-12 baseball season for the Beavers begins on Feb. 16 against the University of New Mexico Lobos in the College Baseball Classic tournament in Surprise, Arizona.