The Oregon State Beavers celebrate their 5-2 victory over the University of Washington at the Hillsboro Ball Park in Hillsboro, Oregon on March 25, 2025. File photo: John Lariviere

The No. 8 Oregon State baseball’s (48-16-1) season came to an end Tuesday, June 17, with a 7-6 walk-off loss to unseeded Louisville at the 2025 Men’s College World Series in Omaha.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Cardinals’ outfielder Eddie King Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring shortstop Alex Alicea from third and ending the game.

Louisville (42-23) advances to face No. 13 Coastal Carolina (55-11), needing two wins in two days over the Chanticleers to advance to the College World Series final. With Louisville advancing from the losers bracket, Coastal Carolina is one win away from appearing in its first MCWS final since winning the national championship in 2016.

“I am incredibly proud,” Head coach Mitch Canham said. “As I told them, (proud is) a very small fraction… of how I feel about these guys. Just an incredible group the entirety of the year. They should never be looking at the ground, their heads should be held high. They inspired not only myself and teammates, but I think the world (for) how they went about it… I don’t think anyone was surprised that they put on a late-inning surge right there and found ways to make the game wild.

“They’ve got real heart and, as I said, I believe they are men. They found that out about themselves this year… They took on so much and I’m grateful for everything that we went through.”

Despite a ninth-inning rally that saw them tie the game at 6-6, the Beavers couldn’t string together enough offensive production to stay alive for another game. Oregon State notched nine hits and six walks, but went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position Tuesday.

In three total games, the Beavers went just 4-for-23 with RISP in Omaha.

Louisville jumped out a 1-0 lead against the Beavers in the first inning, with right fielder Eddie King Jr. dunking a two-out single to left field that scored Cardinals lead-off man Alex Alecia.

Junior left-hander Nelson Keljo made the elimination-game start for Oregon State, surrendering three runs on five hits and lasting just three innings. Keljo issued one walk and struck out three, with King Jr.’s RBI-single off of him giving Louisville an early lead.

Keljo worked a scoreless second inning before Louisville’s Munroe bashed a two-run home run in the third inning. Cardinals’ left fielder Zion Rose lined out to end the third frame, but Keljo’s outing came to an end with it.

The Beavers broke through for a pair of runs in the fourth after junior designated-hitter Tyce Peterson drew a leadoff walk and junior first baseman Jacob Krieg tagged Louisville’s Brennyn Cutts for a two-run tank of his own, cutting Louisville’s lead to 3-2. Krieg’s bomb ended Cutts’ day, with the Cardinals’ right-hander working three innings, allowing five hits and punching out seven batters.

Louisville’s Rose matched Krieg’s homer with one of his own, leading off the bottom of the fourth with a solo tank against Beavers’ right-handed reliever AJ Hutcheson.

Left-hander Justin West worked the next three frames against the Beavers, letting up just one hit — a sixth-inning bunt single by Peterson — and striking out three.

Oregon State loaded the bases against West in the sixth with no outs. The Beavers got one run across on a fielder’s choice RBI from Canon Reeder, but a strikeout from redshirt freshman outfielder Carson McEntire (who pinch-hit for junior right fielder Easton Talt) and a fly out from third baseman Trent Caraway ended the rally.

Louisville extended its lead to 6-3, tacking on a run in the sixth, an RBI-single from second baseman Kamau Neighbors, and another in the seventh on a sac-fly from King Jr. Both runs were credited as earned against Hutcheson, with right-hander Eric Segura coming on with one out and a runner on first in the bottom of the seventh.

The two teams traded scoreless halves in the eighth before a dramatic ninth inning.

Beavers shortstop Aiva Arquette hit a leadoff home run, making it 6-4. Outfielder Gavin Turley followed up the homer with a single before a walk from catcher Wilson Weber and a single from second baseman AJ Singer loaded the bases. An error by Alecia on a ground ball from Tyce Peterson saw Turley and Weber come in to score, tying the game with runners on the corners and no outs for the Beavers.

“To win a national championship, I envisioned, but yeah, I wanted to make it to Omaha,” Arquette said, reflecting on his one year as a Beaver. “I wanted to win and we didn’t do that today, but we did. We won (all year long). So that’s all I can ask for. Great teammates, great coaches. (It’s) all I can ever ask for.”

Louisville’s Tucker Biven (5-0), who entered to face Singer, struck out a pair and generated a pop up to escape the inning with the score still tied.

Oregon State’s Kellan Oakes (5-1) walked Alicea to start the bottom of the ninth, with the bases coming full with no outs following a catcher’s interference by Weber (that was reviewed and upheld) and an error fielding a bunt by Oakes. Freshman right-hander Zach Edwards entered the game, striking out Munroe before King Jr.’s walk-off fly out.