The Chanticleers come to Omaha riding a 23-game winning streak and send redshirt senior Eikhoff to the hill against Arizona's honorable mention All-Big 12 sophomore. The Wildcats draw first blood in the top of the 3rd when Brendan Summerhill doubles with one out, takes third on a forceout following Aaron Walton's walk, and scores after Walker Mitchell fails to come up cleanly with Adonys Guzman's grounder to third. In the 4th, Mitchell atones by driving a Kramkowski fastball into the left-field seats at Charles Schwab Field to tie the score at one apiece. It stays that way until the 7th, both clubs stranding the potential lead run at third base once, when Ty Dooley hits another solo homer for Coastal to give them their first lead of the game. Eikhoff is sailing, retiring nine in a row until Mason White drives one over the outfielders for a triple with one away in the top of the 8th, and Hayden Johnson comes on in relief but cannot prevent Guzman's sac fly to left that ties the game again. Neither team can manage a baserunner in the 9th, and a potential Chanticleer rally in the bottom of the 10th goes awry when a botched hit-and-run results in a leadoff runner getting caught out in a rundown. Arizona gets an error and an infield hit to put two on with one out in the 11th, but Dominic Carbone gets the next two batters to pop put harmlessly on the infield. In the home half of the 12th, Mitchell draws a leadoff walk from Casey Hintz and steals second before Hintz drills Colby Thorndyke in the thigh. Blagen Pado sacrifices the runners ahead by ninety feet and Dooley draws the "unintentional intentional walk" to load the bases and set up a force at any base, but this would require Dean Mihos to hit the ball on the ground. He does not, and his fly ball to Easton Breyfogle in left is deep enough to allow Mitchell to tag up and score the run that sends Coastal Carolina to the winners' half of the bracket with its 24th consecutive victory. Coastal Carolina 3-7-2, Arizona 2-6-2. [scoresheet]
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| Riley Eikhoff holds Arizona to one earned run in 7.1 innings |
Freshman phenom Dax Whitney (111 Ks in 71.1 innings) gets the nod for the Beavers in their CWS opener, and he whiffs four men over the first three innings before his teammates tee off on Forbes in the bottom of the 3rd. A single and a hit batter start the inning off, and AJ Singer's sacrifice puts two into scoring position before Tyce Peterson smokes a line drive back to the box that Forbes can only knock to ground between the mound and first. He recovers to throw the batter out at first, but Gavin Turley scores to give OSU the lead. The hard contact escalates immediately, as Jacob Krieg and Canon Reeder then belt back-to-back home runs to score three more Beavs for a 4-0 cushion. The Cardinals find at least a partial answer to Whitney in the top of the 4th as Zion Rose launches a two-run bomb to cut the deficit in half, but Oregon State answers back right away in the bottom half by loading the bases with two outs on a single, a walk and a hit batsman that drive Forbes from the contest. But Justin West doesn't fare much better - he walks Reeder to force in a run, and then allows two more in the 6th when Singer doubles, Kreig singles him home, and then CF Lucas Moore misplays a line drive off of Reeder's bat to allow Krieg to score. Eddie King Jr. homered with one aboard in the Lousiville 7th to close it to within 7-4 and end Whitney's evening, but the Corvallis boys manufacture an insurance run in the 8th on a two singles and a stolen base and Jake Munroe's two-run homer (the third of the game for Louisville) ends up being no more than a consolation prize for the ACC champs. Oregon State 8-12-1, Louisville 6-9-1. [scoresheet]
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| Jacob Kreig strokes three hits and drives in three for Oregon State |
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