OMAHA, Neb. — Eddie King Jr. drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave Louisville a 7-6 victory over Oregon State on Tuesday and knocked the Beavers out of the College World Series.
The Cardinals (42-23) avenged last Friday and advanced to the Bracket 2 final. They must beat Coastal Carolina on Wednesday and again Thursday to reach the best-of-three CWS finals.
Just like Oregon State (48-16-1) on Friday, Louisville squandered a late lead only to come back and win.
“It’s the value of being the home team,” Cardinals coach Dan McDonnell said. “Sometimes people act like it’s not that big a deal. It’s amazing when you get the last three outs and you get to walk somebody off. So, very fortunate that we were in that situation today.”
Kellan Oakes faced the top of the Louisville lineup to start the bottom of the ninth. Alex Alicea walked and Lucas Moore was awarded first base on catcher’s interference when his bat nicked Wilson Weber’s mitt as he fouled off a pitch. The Cardinals loaded the bases when Matt Klein put down a bunt that Oakes (5-1) booted, the Beavers’ third error of the day and eighth in three CWS games.
That brought on freshman Zach Edwards to face Jake Munroe, who got caught looking at strike three.
“I struck out on a call I didn’t like,” Munroe said. “I was upset about it. Did a little 360, saw Eddie, and I said, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re good.’ That’s kind of the special thing about this lineup.”
King fouled off a pitch and took two balls before he sent a fly to center. Alicea tagged up from third, and Canon Reeder had no chance to make a throw home.
King was mobbed behind first base, with teammates squirting their water bottles at him and fans chanting “Edd-ie! Edd-ie!”
“Just hearing chants like that in a moment like that, it warms my heart,” King said. “And I’m so glad that it could be for Louisville.”
Cardinals pitchers repeatedly worked out of trouble until they couldn’t in the top of the ninth.
“Right there at the end, we probably shocked the heck out of everybody,” Beavers coach Mitch Canham said. “They bring guys in, we’re finding ways to get on base — hit by pitch, base hit, what have you.”
Aiva Arquette homered to left-center on Wyatt Danilowicz’s first pitch, and Gavin Turley, Weber and AJ Singer reached to load the bases with no outs.
Oregon State tied it 6-all when Tyce Peterson’s slow roller glanced off Alicea’s glove at shortstop and into the outfield grass, allowing two runs to score. Tucker Biven (5-0) struck out Jacob Krieg, and Carson McEntire got Reeder to pop out.
“You knew they were going to make a rally there late,” McDonnell said. “And we pitched so well, but one of their best hitters jumps on a heater, and their other best hitter (Turley) fights off a ball and it drops. It’s like, OK, you’re in it here now; you’re going to have to grind this out and earn it. And they made us earn it.”
The Beavers played as an indepedent this year and will again next season before the Pac-12 ramps back up in 2026-27. They had only 19 regular-season home games, logged nearly 25,000 air miles and won enough to be the No. 8 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. They won five elimination games in regionals and super regionals.
“What a season we had. What a run,” Arquette said.
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