OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Coastal Carolina's unbeaten Jacob Morrison was dominant into the eighth inning and the Chanticleers capitalized on Oregon State's early mistakes to extend their win streak to 25 games with a 6-2 victory in the College World Series on Sunday night.
Morrison went 7 2/3 innings for his longest outing in over two months. The 6-foot-8, 245-pound right-hander retired 16 straight over the middle innings and left with two outs in the eighth after allowing five hits, walking none and striking out seven.
“For us to play like that on this stage, pretty darn remarkable,” coach Kevin Schnall said. “These guys were unbelievable tonight and then Jacob Morrison — winner's win.”
Coastal Carolina had to win five elimination games on its way to the 2016 national championship in its CWS debut. The Sun Belt Conference's team of teal hadn’t been back to Omaha until this year, and its 2-0 start puts them in control of their bracket.
The Chanticleers (55-11) would advance to the best-of-three finals with another win Wednesday. Their opponent will be either Louisville or Oregon State (48-15-1), which meet in an elimination game Tuesday.
Morrison (12-0) had a 3-0 lead when he went to the mound for the bottom of the first. All three runs were unearned and the result of an unusual sequence of events.
Leadoff man Caden Bodine reached on star shortstop Aiva Arquette’s throwing error — only his sixth error of the season but second in two games — and went to second on a balk by Ethan Kleinschmit (8-5). The next batter, Sebastian Alexander, was down 0-2 in the count when he was called out for not being alert to the pitcher, as required, when the 20-second clock hit 8.
Blake Barthol walked and Walker Mitchell and Blagen Pado were hit by pitches, but Pado was called out for not trying to get out of the way. Colby Thorndyke then delivered a two-out, bases-clearing double into the right-center gap.
“We had a hit by pitch that didn't go our way, which became two outs with bases loaded, and I came up in the same situation earlier in the season and didn't get it done,” Thorndyke said. “I knew if I could get any runs in, and with Jacob on the mound, it would give our dugout confidence.”
Oregon State’s Easton Talt homered leading off the third to make it a two-run game, but the Chanticleers pulled away by scoring on an error and wild pitch in the fourth. It was 6-1 in the fifth when Thorndyke was hit by a pitch and scored from first on Dean Mihos' double.
Morrison's streak of 16 straight retired batters got rolling after Talt's homer and consecutive flies to the warning track by Arquette and Gavin Turley.
“I don't know if I was nervous the first time through the order,” Morrison said, “but it was awesome seeing long fly balls caught in right and left field. I settled in and was very confident after that.”
The Beavers went into the NCAA Tournament seventh nationally in fielding (.982) with just 35 errors in 54 games. They've committed 10 errors in 10 games since, including five in their first two CWS games.
Two errors on the same play led them to blowing a ninth-inning lead against Louisville in their CWS opener Friday. They survived that, scoring in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 walk-off win.
Oregon State wouldn't overcome its two errors, two hit batters, two wild pitches and six walks Sunday. Turley hit his 20th homer leading off the bottom of the ninth against Hayden Johnson, and the Chanticleers had to call on closer Ryan Lynch to get the last out when the Beavers put two runners on base. The Chanticleers improved to 42-0 when leading after six innings.
“Six walks, we can’t do that. Hit by pitch or two, again, that ain't going to work," Beavers coach Mitch Canham said. "Minimizing mistakes is important. I anticipate us going out and playing cleaner baseball Tuesday.”
Oregon State opens College World Series with 4-3 walk-off win over Louisville
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Aiva Arquette scored from first base on Gavin Turley's drive into the left-field corner in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Oregon State a 4-3 walk-off victory over Louisville in the College World Series on Friday night (6/15/2025).
The Cardinals had tied it with two runs in the top half before Oregon State recorded its fourth walk-off win of the season and second in four games.
The No. 8 national seed Beavers (48-14-1), back in Omaha for the first time since they won the national title in 2018, will play Coastal Carolina on Sunday after the Cardinals (40-22) meet Arizona in an elimination game.
Arquette, a projected first-round pick in the MLB amateur draft next month, was having a rough night in the field before delivering his third base hit of the game with one out in the ninth. Turley then sent the first pitch from Jake Schweitzer (4-2) on a line into the corner. Left fielder Zion Rose tried to cut the ball off but couldn't come up with it, allowing Arquette to be waved home.
“It was cool because it’s the same thing every at-bat for us — go up and compete and hit the ball hard,” Turley said. “Knowing we had the top of the lineup up, I knew we had a chance to do something dangerous.”
Turley was drenched with a bucket of sports drink during the on-field celebration. In the Beavers' super regional opener last week, Turley scored the winning run on AJ Singer's walk-off single in a 5-4, 10-inning win over Florida State.
Louisville was left to regroup.
“They took advantage of an unfortunate situation for us, just a little hiccup here or there and you get walked off in the ninth,” Cardinals coach Dan McDonnell said. “Must have been a great game for everybody to watch and enjoy. A lot of good baseball. We came up on the short end.”
The Cardinals, who trailed 3-1, stranded runners at third base in the sixth and seventh innings and couldn’t score after getting their leadoff man on base in the eighth.
They broke through to tie it in the ninth against Kellan Oakes (5-0). Rose tripled to left when the ball got past Turley and rolled to the wall and Tague Davis followed with an RBI single. Alex Alicea reached on shortstop Arquette's throwing error and ended up on third when catcher Wilson Weber lost his grip on the ball as he tried to get Alicea at second.
Kamau Neighbors drove in Alicea for the tying run with his liner to center before Oakes got a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
Oregon State starter Dax Whitney was nearly untouchable the first two times through Louisville's order. He mixed mid-90 mph fastballs with knee-buckling curveballs and changeups to strike out eight of the first 11 batters he faced, and the only hits against him through five innings were a couple balls poked through the infield.
The 6-foot-5 right-hander from Blackfoot, Idaho, finished with nine strikeouts and left with one out in the sixth and two runners on base.
Louisville starter Patrick Forbes matched zeroes with Whitney through three innings, fanning five of the first nine he faced. He finished with 10 strikeouts and was replaced by Justin West with bases loaded in the sixth after he issued his only walk.
West ended the inning with two strikeouts, but not before Canon Reeder made it 3-1 when Alicea couldn't pick up his sharply hit grounder.
Oregon State traditionally has not done things the easy way in the CWS. The Beavers lost their openers in five of their previous seven appearances. In 2018, when they won their third national championship, they had to win six elimination games.
This year, the Beavers won four win-or-go-home games in regionals and another in the super regionals. Avoiding the loser's bracket is a welcome change.
“It definitely is nice to not have to go through that from the get-go,” catcher Wilson Weber said.