OMAHA, Neb. – In a duel of Friday night starters on college baseball’s biggest stage, Louisville’s Patrick Forbes went 1/3 of an inning longer than Oregon State’s Dax Whitney, but it was Whitney, the freshman from a small town in Idaho, who shined under the lights at Charles Schwab Field.
Whitney allowed one unearned run on three hits, walking one and striking out nine for the Beavers, who won their opener in Omaha 4-3, getting three runs off Louisville’s Patrick Forbes, who struck out 10 in 5 1/3 innings but allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk.
That stellar start by Whitney, however, was nearly squandered by a mess of errors in the top of the ninth inning that allowed Louisville score a pair and tie the game at three.
But Gavin Turley drove home Aiva Arquette to score the winning run with a one-out double to the left field corner in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Beavers a win in their College World Series opener and sending them on to play Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday, with Arizona meeting Louisville at 2 p.m. EDT Sunday in an elimination game.
A year ago, Whitney was pitching for Blackfoot High School in Blackfoot, Idaho, but showed the poise and composure of a player with more than one college season Friday night, throwing 3 2/3 perfect innings with nine strikeouts before surrendering a pair of singles in the top of the fourth to Louisville’s Jake Munroe and Eddie King Jr.
The key, Whitney said, was “establishing the heater early, weren’t doing too well on the curveball really, so I just kept spinning that thing over and over. And I felt like I could fill in any count and made it pretty easy. ”
Mother Nature gave both pitchers an assist, too. With the game starting at 6:09 p.m. CDT, shadows help both Whitney and Forbes hide the ball. The hitters had real trouble being able to pick up the ball in the early innings.
“After the first inning, Trent [Caraway] comes up to me and he’s like, ‘You can’t see anything at the plate right now,” Whitney said. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ll just keep working the curveball then.'”
Leading off the bottom of the fourth for the Beavers, Trent Caraway broke up Forbes’ no-hitter with a single to right, and then Aiva Arquette hit a hot ground ball behind third base and beat out the throw by a step, giving the Beavers runners at first and second with no outs. A wild pitch from Forbes allowed both runners to advance, then Gavin Turley grounded out to second, allowing Caraway to score and Arquette to move over to third. A single by Wilson Weber scored Arquette to make it 2-0 in favor of Oregon State.
In the top of the sixth, Louisville’s Kamau Neighbors led off with a walk, advanced to second on a single by Lucas Moore, then reached third when Matt Klein grounded out to first base. That ended Whitney’s night, with Eric Segura coming in to take the ball. Segura allowed a single to Jake Munroe that got Neighbors home to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Beavers kept chewing, though, loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning to chase Forbes from the game. Justin West came in from the bullpen, and Canon Reeder hit into a fielder’s choice at shortstop, allowing AJ Singer to score and make it 3-1.
Zion Rose led off the top of the ninth for Louisville, lofting a fly ball in front of Oregon State left fielder Gavin Turley, who dove for the ball and couldn’t catch it. The ball rolled all the way to the wall and Rose sped around to third and slid in head-first with a triple. Tague Davis singled behind second base with the defense shifted, beating out the throw from shallow center as Rose scampered home to cut the lead to 3-2.
Then Alex Alicea hit what appeared to be a routine ground ball to short, but the throw to first by Beavers shortstop Aiva Arquette was wide and stopped at the dugout railing. As Alicea headed to second, catcher Wilson Weber tried to throw from his knees and misfired, dropping the ball behind him, and Alicea got to third with a Little League triple. Neighbors followed Alicea with a single that tied the game at three apiece.
“We’re in a good spot and one’s on base. Okay, they get another hit and the ball kicks around a little bit here and there. But the worst thing you can do is panic,” Oregon State head coach Mitch Canham said. “You gotta take a breath and even if the game’s tight, we still get the hit and we’re in a great spot in our order, and when I say a great spot in the order, I mean that it’s our turn to hit. That’s always a good spot.”
That spot was a good spot, and Arquette’s one-out single gave the Beavers another bite at the tree just minutes after his error helped get the tying run to third for Louisville.
“I knew we had a real shot to do something dangerous. And as soon as Aiva got on, it opened a lot of possibilities up with the runner on first,” Turley said of his at-bat. “So, yeah, just getting in there and trying to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard and let the game play itself out.”
Turley got his pitch and hit it. Game over.
“To turn around get back in the dugout and watch how these guys interacted with one another and showed true faith… I mean, up and down the dugout, it’s like, ‘Sweet, this is how it’s supposed to be for us. This is what we thrive in,” Canham said of his team during the ninth inning.
The dramatic win for the Beavers at Charles Schwab Field was something that Whitney had visualized not too long ago.
“This is the exact thing I had in mind when I made this decision to come to Oregon State. So it’s kind of beautiful to see it all come into fruition here,” Whitney said. “And I wouldn’t want to be doing it with any other group of guys.”
Photo: Oregon State celebrates a win against Louisville 4-3 during an NCAA College World Series baseball game on Friday, June 13, 2025 in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Cory Eads)
