Oregon State Eliminates Louisville From CWS
By Corey Leahy
It’s not the ending Louisville expected, that’s for sure. After being the first school in history to make a BCS Bowl, Final Four, and CWS appearances, the Louisville Baseball team finds itself being the first team eliminated from the CWS. Oregon State took advantage of Louisville’s mistakes, and won by a score of 11-4.
Oregon State got the first run of the game in the third inning, when Max Gordon scored off of a double from Tyler Smith. This is where the mistakes for the Cardinals started, including the “blown call”. The Beavers scored two more runs when Louisville’s catcher was unable to snag a pop up foul ball behind the plate, and the shortstop received an error on a bad throw. But the fourth inning is where Oregon State asserted its dominance.
Seven more runs were exactly how they did it. It was looking good after two retired batters for Louisville, they thought they could close the inning out fast. They couldn’t have been any more wrong. With two outs, Oregon State managed to get three consecutive singles and with a few more hits, the Beavers took a commanding 10-0 lead.
The Cardinals tried to make a comeback, scoring three runs in the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough to get the win.
Louisville had not only a great playoff run, but a great season in general. They finished with a record of 51-14, not to mention a 20-4 conference record in the Big East. They were able to upset the 2-seeded Vanderbilt squad in the Nashville Super Regionals to make it into the CWS.
For Oregon State, the road doesn’t get any easier. In order to reach the Finals of the CWS, they need to win three more elimination games.