Louisville baseball tops Oregon State, reaches CWS semifinal. 3 takeaways from Omaha
On an 80-degree overcast day with thunderstorms looming, Eddie King Jr.'s sacrifice fly scored Alex Alicea to give Louisville baseball its first win over Oregon State, 7-6, during the second-round elimination game at Charles Schwab Field. King finished with two hits, three RBI and countless chants of his name before and after his final at-bat.
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"I struck out on a call I didn't like," Jake Munroe said. "I was upset about it, did a little 360, saw Eddie, and I said, 'Oh, yeah, we're good.' That's the special thing about this lineup."
The Cardiac Cardinals (42-23) flipped the script on Oregon State after the Beavers' 4-3 walk-off win to open the College World Series on Friday. But they had momentum on their side and fended off Oregon State's ninth-inning rally, keeping their season alive.
Scoring the game-winning run was a moment of redemption for Alicea, who had a crucial error in the top of the ninth inning. His failed fielding attempt allowed the Beavers to score two runs and tie the game before the Cardinals retired the next three batters. Alicea drew a leadoff walk and moved up on two Oregon State errors — catcher's interference and a mishandled bunt.
After the game, Alicea was given the team's MVP shirt.
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"I knew when Alex got on in the ninth, we win this game, the shirt's going to Alex," U of L coach Dan McDonnell said. "Nobody felt worse than he did, and believe me, as his coach, I have to admit I'm responsible for the way he attacks that ball. ... I feel awful as the coach. My star shortstop feels awful. I'm obviously not wanting to lose this game for a lot of reasons, but there's no way I want Alex to blame himself."
Tucker Biven (5-0) earned the win for Louisville after holding Oregon State to one hit and fanning two in the final inning. Biven entered the game with a 2-0 pitch count, two on and none out.
"Tucker Biven is the guy that walks up to (pitching coach Roger) Williams with his cleats on in the seventh and says, 'I'm pitching tonight, like, I'm ready. I'm going down there,'" McDonnell said. "It wasn't like we told Tucker to go down there. ... It's not easy to take the ball out of his hands. But how do you not love that in a pitcher?"
U of L moves on to play Coastal Carolina in the CWS semifinals at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
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Here are three takeaways from Louisville's win over Oregon State:
Brennyn Cutts comes up big in second start
Brennyn Cutts had only one other start at Louisville — a 14-10 loss against California — when his name was called in a must-win game against Oregon State. The Indiana State transfer started his outing by giving up a leadoff hit to Trent Caraway but then buckled down by striking out the next three batters.
Cutts gave up a two-run homer to Jacob Krieg in the top of the fourth inning but finished with a season-high seven strikeouts.
Cutts, Biven and the Cardinals' pitching staff combined to hold Oregon State to six runs (five earned) on nine hits with 13 strikeouts and six walks. They stranded 12 Beavers on base.
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"We've pitched our tail off this postseason, so I'm really happy for this group," McDonnell said.
Bringing out the big bats
Louisville scored in three of the first four innings to build a 4-2 lead. King started it with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. After a 1-2-3 second inning, Munroe added a two-run bomb that went 394 feet with a 104 exit velocity. It was Munroe's fourth homer of the postseason and 13th this season. He'd previously hit three in the super regional series against Miami. King continued his postseason dominance with a ground-rule double but was left stranded on a flyout before his big moment six innings later.
"I'm just grateful that I'm in the position that I'm in, and I just want to take advantage of every moment I get," he said. "Just hearing chants like that in a moment like that, it warms my heart. And I'm so glad that it could be for Louisville."
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Zion Rose tallied his 13th homer of the season to lead off the bottom of the fourth, going 368 feet, for a 4-2 lead. Louisville finished with 10 hits.
Minimized damage
Louisville's 4-2 lead was in jeopardy when Justin West walked the leadoff batter, gave up a hit and hit another batter to load the bases in the top of the sixth inning. The series of events led to a mound visit from Williams. West responded by striking out the next batter before the Cardinals got the next two outs.
Louisville only allowed one run on a fielder's choice, stranding two Beavers to close out the top half of the inning with the 4-3 advantage.
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West threw three innings and held Oregon State to one earned run on one hit with one walk. He fanned three.
Up next: Louisville to play Coastal Carolina
The Cardinals are two wins from the national championship series. They face Coastal Carolina in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Wednesday. A win over the Chanticleers, who haven't lost in the CWS bracket, would cause the teams to play again Thursday at a time yet to be determined.
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville baseball score: UofL wins elimination game vs Oregon State
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