College World Series: 8 teams clinch berths to Omaha, including Arkansas, which ousted defending champion Tennessee

Yahoo

2 days ago

Six teams advanced to the 2025 Men's College World Series with wins in Super Regional play Sunday, while another fended off elimination and forced a Game 3 on Monday.
Arizona defeated North Carolina in a decisive Game 3 in their best-of-3 series, while Louisville did the same in its Game 3 victory against Miami.
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Oregon State won its win-or-go-home game Sunday evening against Florida State.
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn celebrates with his players after winning the Super Regional and a trip to the College World Series by beating Tennessee 11-4 on Sunday. (Photo by)
(Wesley Hitt via Getty Images)
Elsewhere in the Super Regionals, Arkansas dispatched defending national champion Tennessee in two games and is off to Omaha along with UCLA, which defeated UTSA in two games.
LSU was the last team to clinch a trip to Omaha on Sunday, winning its series 2-0 against West Virginia.
Murray State ran away in its Game 2 matchup vs. Duke to force a decisive game on Monday, which the Racers won to earn the first MCWS berth in school history.
Coastal Carolina was the first to team to qualify for the College World Series by finishing a sweep of Auburn on Saturday.
College World Series bracket
Here's how the Men's College World Series bracket sits following Monday's games.
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Louisville (40-22) will face Oregon State (47-14-1)
Arizona (44-19) takes on Coastal Carolina (53-11)
UCLA (47-16) matches up against Murray State (44-15)
LSU (48-15) will face Arkansas (48-13)
Murray State won the final spot on Monday, completing the eight-team field for the men's College World Series, which begins Friday.
Arkansas 11, Tennessee 4
The Volunteers will not repeat as national champions after being swept in the Fayetteville Super Regional by the host Razorbacks. After losing Saturday's opener 4-3, Tennessee fell apart with its season and a return trip to Omaha at stake.
Arkansas opened a 7-1 lead with a five-run fourth inning. Logan Maxwell hit a grand slam off AJ Russell, the Vols' third pitcher of the inning. The Razorbacks loaded the bases on singles by Cam Kozeal and Reese Robinett, followed by an intentional walk to Charles Davalan to set up a force play.
But Tennessee pitcher Liam Doyle allowed a run to score on a wild pitch, and Brayden Krenzel hit Wehiwa Aloy with a pitch to load the bases for Maxwell's big blow.
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Loading the bases got the Vols in trouble again in the seventh. After an RBI double from Kuhio Aloy, Tennessee pitchers walked four consecutive batters, resulting in another two runs. Altogether, the Vols issued eight walks in the game.
Tennessee followed last season's national title with a seventh-place finish in the SEC at 16-14, though they finished 46-18 overall.
Oregon State 14, Florida State 10
The host Beavers jumped on the Seminoles early via a seven-run first inning and a six-run third, then hung on late to clinch their first College World Series berth since 2018.
Oregon State hit five home runs in its strong showing at the plate, led by Trent Caraway's grand slam in the third inning and Canon Reeder's three-run blast in the first.
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The Beavers led 14-4 after four innings before the Seminoles made it interesting by narrowing the gap to as close as 14-10. Gage Harrelson, Max Williams and Myles Bailey each hit two-run homers for Florida State.
LSU 12, West Virginia 5
Steven Milam and Jake Brown each had four RBI, and the Tigers jumped to an early 6-0 lead in their Super Regional victory against the Mountaineers.
Milam's biggest hit was a three-run double in the second inning that gave LSU a 4-0 lead. Brown hit a two-run homer in the seventh that put the Tigers ahead 12-4.
The Mountaineers made a game of it after trailing 6-0, scoring four unanswered on Ben Lumsden's two-run homer and Sam White's solo homer and RBI single.
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LSU starter Anthony Eyanson struck out seven in five innings and gave up four earned runs. Relievers Cooper Williams and Chase Shores held WVU to one hit over the reaming four innings.
UCLA 7, UTSA 0
The Bruins are returning to the Men's College World Series for the first time since 2013, when they won the national championship. UCLA finished a sweep of UTSA in Los Angeles with a 7-0 win.
RBI singles by Toussaint Bythewood in the fourth inning and Roch Cholowsky in the fifth gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead. The Bruins didn't need any more offense than that but added two runs in the eighth, when AJ Salgado scored on a throwing error by Roadrunners catcher Lorenzo Morresi followed by a sacrifice fly from Phoenix Call.
UCLA tacked on three additional runs in the ninth on a two-run single by Payton Brennan and an RBI groundout from Bythewood.
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Five UCLA pitchers kept UTSA off the scoreboard, led by starter Landon Stump's four scoreless innings with four hits allowed and five strikeouts. Chris Grothues was credited with the win, allowing no runs over 2 2/3 innings.
Louisville 3, Miami 2
Eddie King Jr.'s two-out double scored Jake Munroe in the seventh inning to put the Cardinals on top. Jake Schweitzer, Justin West and Brennyn Cutts combined for a scoreless final two innings to put Louisville (40-22) among the eight teams going to Omaha.
Ethan Eberle pitched five innings for Louisville, giving up a two-run homer to Max Galvin among his six hits allowed. Schweitzer got the win with three scoreless innings, while Cutts earned the save by retiring the final Hurricanes batter of the game.
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For Miami (35-27), Reese Lumpkin gave up two runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. But Will Smith was tagged with the loss after allowing King's RBI double. It was only the second hit he allowed in 2 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks. Galvin and Daniel Cuvet each had two hits for Miami.
Arizona 4, North Carolina 3
The Wildcats join the Chanticleers in Omaha, defeating the Tar Heels on their home field.
Arizona took a 4-3 lead with a three-run eighth inning as its first four batters reached base, helped by two throwing errors by UNC. Tommy Splaine first scored on a bunt single from Easton Breyfogle. Brendan Summerhill then walked to load the bases, and Mason White drove in two runs with a single.
A three-run homer by Jackson Van De Brake gave North Carolina a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning, following consecutive singles from Carter French and Kane Kepley. Arizona starter Smith Bailey was charged with those three runs with five hits allowed, four strikeouts and three walks in six innings.
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Ryan Lynch pitched seven innings for the Tar Heels, allowing three runs (two earned) with five strikeouts. Walker McDuffie took the loss after he allowed the go-ahead run to reach base in the eighth.
Murray State 19, Duke 9
The Racers rebounded decisively after losing Saturday's Super Regionals opener to Duke 7-4. Dom Decker and Will Vierling each drove in four runs, while Dan Tauken had three RBI to send the series to a decisive Game 3 on Monday.
Duke took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back homers by AJ Gracia and Ben Miller, but Murray State answered in the bottom of the frame with three runs beginning with Jonathan Hogart's leadoff home run. The teams eventually traded five-run innings, but the Racers blew the game open with a nine-run seventh.
The Blue Devils' Kyle Johnson and Racers' Isaac Silva each allowed six runs as starting pitchers. Yet while Jacob Hustedde and Graham Kelham combined to give up another three runs in 3 2/3 innings of relief, Duke's bullpen could not keep Murray State's lineup from lighting up the scoreboard.
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Seven more pitchers took the mound for the Blue Devils, with five of them allowing two or more runs. Gabe Nard and Mark Hindy each gave up three runs in a combined 1 1/3 innings.
The Racers followed Sunday's blowout with a 5-4 win on Monday, earning the program's first College World Series berth.