Louisville Walked Off by Oregon State in College World Series Opener

OMAHA, Neb. - After blazing through the first two weekends of the NCAA Tournament, the Louisville baseball program's run in the 2025 College World Series isn't exactly off on the right foot.

Taking on No. 8 national seed Oregon State for their CWS opener, the Cardinals could not pull off the upset over the Beavers, instead getting walked off 4-3 on Friday at Charles Schwab Field.

Trailing 3-1 heading into the ninth, Louisville (40-23) was able to storm back in the final frame thanks to a chaotic series of events. Tague Davis (1-3, RBI, BB) drove in Zion Rose (1-4, 3B) after he led the inning off with a triple, but then a pinch-running Tanner Shiver was picked off for the first out.

In the next at-bat, Alex Alicea (1-4) got on base thanks to an Oregon State (48-14-1) throwing error, but got all the way to third after their catcher could not find the ball after it bounced off the dugout wall. Kamau Neighbors then took advantage with a game-tying RBI single.

However, the pendulum of momentum swung in the complete opposite direction in the bottom of the ninth. Jake Schweitzer (1.1 IP, 1 BB, 2 H, 1 ER), on the heels of tossing a scoreless eighth, gave up a one-out single to Third-Team NCBWA All-American Aiva Arquette, and then the game-winning RBI double to Second-Team All-American Gavin Turley.

Making their sixth College World Series appearance in program appearance, Louisville drops to 1-5 in CWS openers with the loss to Oregon State. Their lone victory came in 2017 - an 8-4 decision vs. Texas A&M.

The Cardinals are now on the brink of elimination, and will face Arizona in the 0-1 game on their side of the CWS bracket. First pitch is set for Sunday, June 15 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

In what was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel for most of the evening, Louisville's Patrick Forbes and Oregon State's Dax Whitney were the stars of the show. The two right-handers combined to face 13 over the minimum in 10.2 innings pitched, as well as strike out 19 total batters.

Forbes (5.1 IP, 10 K, 1 BB, 7 H), the No. 36 prospect in next month's 2025 MLB Draft, retired eight of the first nine he faced, and tied the program's College World Series strikeout record. That being said, he did run into some command issues after the first time through the Beavers' order.

Meanwhile, Whitney, who was the 56th-ranked prospect in last year's draft but opted not to sign out of high school, was arguably even more dominant. He retired the first 11 Cardinals to step up to the plate before losing the no-hit bid, and struck out nine during his 5.1 inning start.

Jake Munroe (2-4, RBI) also drove in a run and Louisville collected nine hits, but they largely struggled at the plate against Oregon State. UofL struck out a combined 14 times for the ninth, and prior to the ninth, hit just 2-for-10 with two outs and 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

After 3.5 innings of scoreless baseball to start the evening, Oregon State was the one that drew first blood. Forbes took a no-hitter into the fourth, but surrendered four hits and two runs in this inning alone. The Beavers plated the first run on a fielder's choice, then the second on an RBI single.

Two innings later in the sixth, Louisville was able to take advantage of a pitching change and jump on the scoreboard as well. With two runners in scoring position and one out, OSU made the move to pull Whitney. Munroe collected an RBI single, but that was all that the Cardinals could plate in the frame off of newly-inserted reliever Eric Segura.

But in the bottom of that frame, the Beavers were able to chase out Forbes after he loaded the bases with one out. While the Cardinals gave up a run after Alicea misplayed a grounder for what should have been an inning-ending double play, right-hander Justin West (1.2 IP, 2 K, 2 H) was able to limit the damage as the first man out of the bullpen, striking out a pair to strand the bases loaded.

West followed that up with a scoreless seventh prior to Schweitzer's zero in the eighth, but Louisville seemed like they might be out of gas at the plate.

Oregon State right-hander Wyatt Queen allowed a pair of runners in scoring position with one out in the seventh, as well as a leadoff runner in the eighth, but the Cardinals could not capitalize on either opportunity. It wasn't until Kellan Oakes took over in the ninth for the Beavers that UofL found some late inning magic.

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