Men's College World Series: Louisville outlasts Oregon State in homer-themed, roller coaster elimination game
The action started early on Day 5 of the Men's College World Series. Following Monday's suspension due to bad weather, LSU defeated UCLA in a game that was supposed to finish on Day 4.
The loss pushed UCLA into a loser's bracket matchup with Arkansas, which will take place Tuesday night.
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Prior to that, however, Louisville outlasted Oregon State 7-6 in a thrilling elimination game that featured four home runs and an epic ninth inning.
Louisville 7, Oregon State 6
Louisville flipped the script on Oregon State Tuesday.
Four days after the Cardinals watched the Beavers render a ninth-inning comeback obsolete with a walk-off win, Louisville gave Oregon State a taste of its own medicine in a memorable rematch.
Oregon State came back from three runs down to tie the game at 6-6 in the top of the ninth, only for Louisville right fielder Eddie King Jr. to hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the frame.
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"This team is special," King said afterward, via the ESPN broadcast. "We get knocked down, but we get right back up.
"We just got to keep continuing to do that."
King batted in the game's final run as well as its first.
While both starting pitchers worked through trouble early, Oregon State junior Nelson Keljo was the first to crack. After an infield single and a walk, Keljo allowed an RBI single to King, who staked Louisville a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
The Cardinals nearly gave it back immediately. Though Louisville starter Brennyn Cutts had an excellent first inning, striking out the side, the senior fumbled with his control in the top of the second. Cutts walked the first two batters he faced in the inning before coming back and striking out two of the next three batters to get out of trouble. Through two innings, Cutts had five strikeouts.
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Cutts dealt with traffic on the bases again in the third inning, but two more strikeouts helped him escape unscathed.
Louisville gave him more run support in the bottom of the frame. With a man on second, third baseman Jake Munroe hit a two-run homer to left field to extend Louisville's lead to 3-0.
King then followed that up with a ground-rule double off Keljo. With Louisville threatening to break the game open, first baseman Tague Davis hit a line drive to right but directly at Oregon State right fielder Easton Talt, who made the out and ended the inning.
Oregon State answered back with a no doubter of its own. After Cutts walked designated hitter Tyce Peterson, he was chased by first baseman Jacob Krieg.
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The 6-foot-5 junior hammered the first 400-foot dinger of the MCWS, depositing a long ball — his 14th of the season — well over the left field fence and cutting the Beavers' deficit to 3-2.
The mid-game home run derby continued in the bottom of the fourth inning, thanks to Zion Rose, who went from watching Krieg's blast fly over his head in left field to ripping a solo shot there the next frame. Rose took advantage of a pitch from righty AJ Hutcheson that ended up over the heart of the plate.
With that smash into the Louisville bullpen, Rose's 13th homer of the year, the Cardinals regained some breathing room, up 4-2.
Left-handed Cardinals pitcher Justin West, who replaced Cutts in the fourth, put out six straight Oregon State batters between the fourth and fifth innings, recording a pair of strikeouts along the way.
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That streak came to an end in the top of the sixth. After issuing a walk, West saw a perfectly-placed bunt from Peterson bounce past his reach. Then West drilled Krieg in the left leg.
All of a sudden, Oregon State had the bases loaded with no outs. Although West fanned pinch hitter Carson McEntire, he didn't get out of the frame unscathed. Louisville couldn't turn two on the ensuing grounder from Beavers center fielder Canon Reeder. In the process, second baseman AJ Singer raced home from third to make it a 4-3 game.
A flyout from third baseman Trent Caraway ended Oregon State's sixth-inning scoring bid.
Garret Pike pinch hit for Bayram Hot at Louisville's designated hitter spot and delivered a two-out double to left-center. Pike scored after Cardinals second baseman Kamau Neighbors scorched a single to right, and after McEntire's throw home was both off the line and not cut off. As a result of the error, Neighbors advanced to second. Neighbors didn't get farther than that, but Louisville headed into the seventh inning with a 5-3 lead.
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Oregon State missed an opportunity to chip away at its deficit when Peterson lined out to center with two men on in the top of the seventh.
Louisville restored its three-run advantage from earlier with the first of King's two sac flies in the bottom of the frame. This time, he brought home catcher Matt Klein, who previously reached base with an infield single.
Oregon State found itself in that same three-run hole entering the ninth inning. That's when shortstop and highly-regarded MLB prospect Aiva Arquette injected some hope into the veins of Beavers faithful with a lead-off home run, this one a 418-foot bomb.
It was only the third homer given up by Louisville lefty Wyatt Danilowicz this season. He got the boot soon after, following a single to right from left fielder Gavin Turley, plus a wild pitch.
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Right-handed pitcher Tucker Biven came in to relieve Danilowicz, except he immediately allowed a four-pitch walk. Singer loaded the bases with a single to right.
The Beavers, who struggled mightily with runners in scoring position up to this point of the MCWS, finally came through with their backs against the wall — that is, with the help of the ball bouncing the right way.
Peterson's grounder arrived at shortstop the same time catcher Wilson Weber was crossing the line of sight of the normally sure-handed Alex Alicea.
Alicea failed to field the ball, and it trickled into the outfield. Weber and Turley scored to tie the game at 6-6. Biven dug deep for back-to-back strikeouts before inducing a popup for the third out.
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Alicea instantly got a chance at redemption, leading off the bottom of the ninth. He drew a walk and trotted to first as the game-winning run.
After five straight foul balls, the first two of which were from bunts, Louisville center fielder Lucas Moore reached first because of catcher's interference. That moved Alicea to second.
Klein laid down a sacrifice bunt, except it didn't turn out to be sacrificial, as Oregon State pitcher Kellan Oakes couldn't field it properly.
The sacrifice happened two batters later when King dialed up his clutch fly ball to center field. It was plenty deep enough to score a relieved Alicea as soon as he tagged up.
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Louisville, which rallied to beat Arizona this past Sunday, will now play Coastal Carolina Wednesday at 2 p.m.
LSU continues to dominate the competition. After pulling out a win and advancing Tuesday, its team's lead in the Jell-O shot challenge is not in question. Whether LSU can break the all-time Jell-O shot record, however, seems like a tall ask. The school is currently lagging behind record pace, but perhaps fans will be inspired after Tuesday's win.
No other school has come close to matching LSU this year. Murray State sits in second with 7,421 Jell-O shots consumed. Arkansas — which is still alive as of Tuesday morning — sits at 6,801.
LSU holds the record with 68,888 Jell-O shots consumed in 2023. Fans would really need to up their consumption to beat that record, but the school could rally as long as the team keeps winning games.
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