After a thrilling super regional series against the Florida State Seminoles, the Oregon State Beavers baseball team are headed to Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series in hopes of bringing home some hardware for the fourth time in program history.

The Beavers will be playing the University of Louisville, who helped take down the No. 1 ranked Vanderbilt University in the Nashville regional, at 4 p.m. streaming on ESPN. 

Their first appearance since 2018 and for the first time under head coach Mitch Canham.  

“From the beginning of the year, from taking this job, it was never about getting to Omaha. It was about winning it,” Canham said. 

Since Canham accepted his position as head coach in 2019, the team has reached regionals in 2021 and 2023, and lost in the super regionals in 2022 and 2024. 

Despite this being Canham’s first appearance as a head coach, Omaha is not unfamiliar territory for him. 

In 2005, Canham and the Beavs reached Omaha for the first time since 1952. They fell short that season but came out on top in 2006 and 2007. 

“When I first got here in the fall of 2003, during our team meeting, I remember standing up and saying, ‘let’s go win the whole thing! If that’s not our goal, then what are we doing,’” Canham said, recalling his time as a player at OSU. “Getting that opportunity to go to Omaha in 2005 was a huge breakthrough moment.”

Canham continues to instill that motto into his players today. 

With their backs against the wall in game one of the super regionals, the Beavers came back from a 4-1 deficit in the bottom of the ninth. 

“(Jacob) Krieg sent us to Omaha with one swing on Friday,” Gavin Turley said about his teammates’ two-out game-tying hit.

The boys continued their home run derby from the regionals in the super regional finale on Sunday, June 8, hitting five home runs in four innings. 

“It’s really fun to watch because every single kid in our lineup can leave the yard at any moment,” Turley said. “I haven’t been a part of many lineups like that.”

Sitting as the third-highest seed left in the tournament, the Beavs are a team to worry about. 

Five Beavs were recognized by the American Baseball Coaches Association as All-Region selections. Catcher Wilson Weber, outfielder Turley, and left-handed pitcher Ethan Kleinschmit were named to the first team, while shortstop Aiva Arquette and right-handed pitcher Dax Whitney are second-teamers.

Whitney allowed only one run in 4.2 innings and ten strikeouts on Friday, June 6.

Ethan Kleinschmit dueled in game two, tossing 110 pitches in six innings, with only one earned run allowed and eleven strikeouts.

“With what our pitching and defense have done this year, coupled with our offense all getting together and clicking, that’s when you want it to happen, and that’s what we’ve seen in regionals and super regionals,” Canham said.  

Although the Beavs played an energetic seven games riling up the fans at Goss, playing on the road is not an unfamiliar feeling for them. 

The team played 35 games at an away or neutral site this season due to their newly independent schedule. 

“We’ve been preparing for it all season,” Whitney said. “We’re more ready to do this than any other team in the country with our road games, that’s why we call ourselves the ‘Road Warriors.’”

Three former Pac-12 teams reached the CWS this season, including the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Arizona. 

For the first time since 1957, none of the eight remaining teams in the men’s CWS attended in the previous year. 

“Everyone always knew what the end goal was, whether it was a down moment in our season (or not),” Turley said. “It stems from knowing baseball is not what we do, it’s who we are.” 

Will the Beavs best the speedy Cardinals in game one? Or will they be sent to the losers’ bracket again and claw their way to their fourth national championship?