Oregon State baseball saw their 2025 season come to a nail-biting conclusion at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. on Tuesday after falling 7-6 to Louisville at the Men’s College World Series.
The Cardinals managed to thwart the Beavers’ attempt to erase a 3-6 deficit entering the final frame when Louisville’s Alex Alicea’s run in the bottom of the ninth walked off the Cardinals.
The ouster came four days after Oregon State had edged Louisville 4-3 in the MCWS opening round on June 13. With 10 hits, two home runs, and only four strikeouts on Tuesday, the Cardinals were able to put away the Beavers, who recorded 13 strikeouts.
After escaping with a one-run victory on Friday, Oregon State advanced in the winner’s bracket. In that first meeting, the Beaver bullpen was able to hold off the Cardinals, but were not so fortunate in the rematch.
In Tuesday’s rematch, the Cardinals raced out to a 3-0 lead through three innings, making use of a two-run homer by Jake Munroe in the bottom of the third. Oregon State responded in the fourth with a two-run home run from Jacob Krieg to cut the lead to 3-2.
Louisville’s Zion Rose homered to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 4-2, but the Beavers brought the deficit back down to one when AJ Singer advanced to home plate on a fielder’s choice.
Louisville, however, had answers for all of the Beavers’ comeback attempts. Entering the bottom of the sixth inning with a 4-3 lead, Garret Pike scored for the Cardinals when an errant OSU pitch couldn’t find second base. While the seventh and eighth innings saw no changes on the scoreboard, it was the ninth inning that made the game an instant classic.
Down 6-3 entering the top of the ninth, the Beavers staged a dramatic rally. Aiva Arquette led off the Beavers with a solo blast, cutting the deficit to 6-4. After back-to-back singles, a Louisville defensive error allowed Oregon State’s Gavin Turley and Wilson Weber to race to home plate and tie the game 6-6.
But the Cardinals were not quite ready to fly home.
Taking the field in the bottom of the ninth tied in a game in which they had never trailed, the Cardinals opened with an Alicea walk. A catcher’s interference call advanced Alicea to second and sent Lucas Moore to first.
This gave Louisville coverage on first and second base without having incurred any outs. On the following play, OSU pitcher Kellan Oakes was not able to corral Matt Klein’s hit and the resulting fielding error gave the Cardinals loaded bases and no outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Though Oregon State managed to get two outs without surrendering a run, a sacrifice fly from the Cardinals’ Eddie King Jr. sent Alicea to home plate and eliminated the Beavers.
The Beavers head back to Corvallis, finishing the season with a 48-17-1 record. They reached the MCWS for the first time since 2018. The Cardinals, who advanced to face streaking Coastal Carolina, were eliminated by the Chanticleers on Wednesday in an 11-3 blowout.