Coastal Carolina 7, Arizona 4
OMAHA, Neb. — Coastal Carolina broke open a tie game with three runs in the eighth inning, Dominick Carbone shut down an Arizona threat in the ninth, and the Chanticleers opened the College World Series with a 7-4 victory.
The Chanticleers (54-11) extended their winning streak to 24 games in their first appearance in Omaha since they beat Arizona in the 2016 finals. They’ll play Sunday against No. 8 national seed Oregon State.
Arizona (44-20), in the CWS for the first time since 2021, will play Louisville on Sunday.
Coastal Carolina scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to forge a 4-all tie with the Wildcats and took the lead in the eighth after reliever Garrett Hicks (5-1) retired the first two batters.
Wells Skyes sliced a ball just inside the right-field line for a double and Caden Bodine was intentionally walked before Sebastian Alexander singled in the go-ahead run. Arizona closer Tony Pluta came on and gave up Blake Barthol’s two-run double.
The Wildcats had runners on the corners with none out in the ninth. Carbone struck out pinch-hitter Dom Rodriguez and then got Brendan Summerhill to hit into a game-ending double play.
Oregon State 4, Louisville 3
OMAHA, Neb. — 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 walk-off victory over Louisville.
The Cardinals had tied the game 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 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, had had 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.
Oregon State’s dugout emptied, and Turley was drenched with a bucket of sports drink in 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.
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.