OMAHA, Neb. – Call them the Cardiac Cardinals.
Louisville was three outs away from a victory, leading the Oregon State Beavers 6-3 as the top of the ninth began, only to cough up the three-run lead and let the Beavers tie the game.
With the bases loaded and one outs in the ninth, Eddie King Jr. lofted a sacrifice fly to center field that allowed Alex Alicea to dash home, diving across the with the winning run to send the Cardinals to the Wednesday afternoon game against Coastal Carolina with a 7-6 win. A win tomorrow would earn them a repeat matchup with the Chanticleers at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
It was a reversal of the opening game for the two teams at the 2025 Men’s College World Series, where the Cardinals came back in the top of the ninth, only for the Beavers to top them in their last at-bat.
“It’s pretty bizarre that we kinda did that to Oregon State a couple days ago, and they walked us off. And they did that to us today, and then we walk them off. I guess it’s the value of being the home team,” said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. “You knew they were gonna make a rally there late. I mean, we pitched so well, but their best hitter, one of their best hitters, jumps on a heater. And their other best hitter fights off a ball and it drops, and it’s like, okay, you’re in it here now. You’re gonna have to grind this out and earn it. They made us earn it.”
Alex Alicea led off the bottom of the first for Louisville, legging out a single on a ground ball back to the mound. Four batters later, Eddie King Jr.’s single to left scored Alicea from second for a 1-0 Cardinals lead.
In the third, Lucas Moore beat out a ground ball to first base for an infield single, then Jake Munroe launched the first pitch he saw into the left field seats, giving Louisville a 3-0 lead.
After a walk to Tyce Peterson walked, Jacob Krieg hit his 14th homer of the season off a 2-1 fastball that Louisville starter Brennyn Cutts left over the middle of the plate, launching the ball over the left field bullpen to cut the lead to 3-2. The homer chased Cutts from the game after two innings and two batters, with Justin West coming on in relief.
A.J. Hutcheson, a righty with a sidearm delivery, came in to pitch the bottom of the third for Oregon State, and Zion Rose, who led off the frame for Louisville, hit his 1-2 pitch over the wall in left, giving the Cardinals a 4-2 lead.
West ran into trouble in the top of the sixth, walking Oregon State’s AJ Singer, giving up an infield single to Tyce Peterson on a dribbler to second base where Kamau Neighbors had no play, and then hitting Jacob Krieg on the leg with a fastball to load the bases with no outs. Carson McEntire pinch hit for Easton Talt and struck out swinging, then Carson Reeder reached a fielder’s choice to shortstop when the relay throw squirted loose from the glove of Louisville first baseman Tague Davis, allowing Singer to score and make it a 4-3 ballgame. Trent Caraway then flew out to right field on the next pitch and Louisville escaped the bases-loaded no-outs jam having allowed a single run.
Kamau Neighbors restored Louisville’s two-run lead with a sixth-inning single to right field that allowed Garret Pike, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for designated hitter Bayram Hot, from second.
An inning later, Eddie King Jr.’s sacrifice fly allowed Matt Klein to dash home from third and make it 6-3.
Wyatt Danilowicz came on to pitch the ninth for Louisville, allowing a homer on the first pitch to Oregon State’s Aiva Arquette to make it 6-4. Gavin Turley followed with an opposite field bloop single to right, and advanced on a 2-0 count to Wilson Weber, which prompted Dan McDonnell to yank Danilowicz and bring on Tucker Biven, who threw two balls to Weber to send him to first. Then AJ Singer singled to load the bases with no outs, and Tyce Peterson followed with a ground ball that rolled under the glove of Cardinals’ shortstop Alex Alicea and into the outfield, allowing Turley and Weber to score and tie the game at six apiece.
“Singer’s sitting there, we weren’t able to get a bunt down, and [Peterson] dropped a single over into the right side,” Oregon State head coach Mitch Canham said. “I can’t remember Wilson having a catcher’s interference all year. It’s supposed to be this way, it’s supposed to be really difficult.
But up came the top of the order for Louisville in the ninth, and after Alex Alicea walked to lead off the inning, and then Lucas Moore was awarded first base on catcher’s interference. Matt Klein laid down a bunt back to the mound that Oregon State pitcher Kellan Oakes couldn’t come up with, and the bases were loaded with no outs. That sent Canham to his bullpen again.
“We brought in Zach Edwards, freshman, we just threw two days ago, running 96, 98, because he works his butt off,” Canham said. “And I’m telling you, he was ready, I wasn’t worried one bit about bases loaded, him coming in, I saw it, I go strikeout, double play. I also threw another scenario, punch out, punch out, punch out. But that was wishful thinking.”
Jake Munroe struck out, and then up came Eddie King Jr. with Alicea standing on third base. His fly ball went to center field, and Alicea soiled his shirt sliding headfirst across the plate.
“We got a shirt that hangs in the dugout. It’s got kind of a few sayings for the year. … And we give that shirt out at the end of the game, usually to a, say an MVP,” said McDonnell. “I knew when Alex got on in the ninth, I said, if we win this game, the shirt’s going to Alex.”
It was as much an acknowledgement of the winning run as it was of Alicea’s importance to the Cardinals this season.
“Alex Alicea is the epitome of toughness. And so, you know, he leads off with a 3-2 walk, and then he ends up being the scoring run. And I remember the dive and play he made up the middle,” McDonnell said.
“There’s a lot of great shortstops in the country. I’m so impressed with college baseball and how good the shortstops are. I’m just thankful Alicea is our shortstop.”
Photo: Eddie King Jr.’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth scored Alex Alicea, giving the Cardinals a 7-6 win and advancing them to face Coastal Carolina on Wednesday afternoon. (AP Photo/John Amis)
