Arizona 4 - Coastal Carolina 7

This game was very clearly the “boring” game today. Few truly stood out but I highlighted a few that at least contributed enough to warrant a mention. 

Mason White, SS Arizona - 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, K 

We’ll start with the losers. Mason White hit the lone homer of the game, that alone deserves a mention I guess. Eickhoff was cruising until the fourth inning when Mason came up. In an 0-2 count Mason White sent it the other way that was *barely* enough to not get robbed by Sebastian Alexander. A game of inches. 

Blake Barthol, 2B Coastal Carolina - 3-for-5, 2 2B, R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Blake was the only one in the top half of the lineup really contributing. This is a bit dramatic as Bodine got on twice and everyone in the lineup got on base at least once. However, this isn’t the “Who Got On Base Sheet”. Anywho, the bottom half of the lineup got things going in the second inning, a Colby Thorndyke single, Blagen Pado single, Ty Dooley bunt single and finally a Wells Sykes single scored two runs to give them the lead. In the bottom of the fifth, small ball Chanticleers was at it again with some singles and walks to score another run.

Going into the 8th the game was tied at 4. Wells Sykes was able to get a two out double, Bodine was not allowed to play with his friends and got a free trip to first base and then the Chanticleers finally broke the game open. A two out rally ended with a 3 run lead and with a small amount of heart burn in the 9th, they were able to close the game out. Chanticleers will face Oregon State and Arizona will fight for it’s life against Louisville. 

Riley Eikhoff, RHP Coastal Carolina - 4 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 4 K

Cameron Flukey, RHP Coastal Carolina - 4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BB, 3 K, 3 HBP

To be fair to the Wildcat bats, this rotation is arguably the best in the tournament and do not give up many rallies. HOWEVER, this was far from their best performance. I’m looking at you Mr. HBP. They got the job done, but there were clearly some jitters. I assume it was a fluke. 

Louisville 3 - Oregon State 4

What a way to end the game. Perfect way to cap off night one. Good pitching, great hitting, bad fielding, unreasonable replays. It really had it all.

Zion Rose, LF Louisville - 1-for-4, 3B, R, K 

No one on Louisville really “deserved” a blurb, so I chose Zion to be our stand in. The story of the Louisville offense can be told simply by Dax Whitney’s stat line and the 9th inning. They got some much needed traffic in the 6th after sending just 17 hitters to bat up until that point. Dax lost command a little and allowed runners on second and third before he was pulled and then Jake Munroe was able to put a ball in play to score a run.  They again struggled to score in the 7th and 8th. Down 2 runs coming into the 9th all hell broke loose. Zion hit a hard liner to LF and Gavin Turley made a poor decision and dove, allowing the ball to roll to the wall for a leadoff triple for Rose. A Tague Davis single scored the first run. 

With the Cardinals down a run, a pinch runner was caught stealing, but Oregon State just wanted to give the Cardinals a chance. Alex Alicea hit a grounder to Aiva Arquette for what could have been a tough ground out, or just a routine infield single. NOPE Aiva tried to play hero ball, rushed the throw and the ball rolled to the wall. The catcher attempted to throw Alicea out at second but straight up forgot to actually throw the ball. I’m not kidding, the ball ended up behind him and allowed Alicea to get to 3rd without a throw. A single to center now had the game tied going into the bottom of the 9th. 

Aiva Arquette, SS Oregon State - 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 K

Gavin Turley, LF Oregon State - 2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, K

To recap, two of the biggest blunders of the night were made by the aforementioned Beavers. Guess who cleaned up their own mess. Yeah I could discuss how in the 4th these two were involved in the rally that scored a pair, but that's boring compared to the 9th.  Now just put yourself in their shoes, you just made an error that figuratively flipped your season on its head and could have changed the outcome entirely. Do you rise to the occasion and respond, or crumble under the pressure? The majority of the people that said they would rise to the occasion are liars. Aiva and Turley responded. Aiva got things going with a single to center to represent the winning run, and then Gavin ripped a double - the Beavers only extra base hit- to score Aiva from home to walk it off. The 9th inning is why you should watch more college baseball and should find a way to watch as many games this weekend as possible. 

Dax Whitney, RHP Oregon State - 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, BB, 9 K (82 pitches)

Patrick Forbes, LHP Louisville - 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 10 K (101 pitches) 

Forbes would likely dispute how great of an outing this was and Whitney probably would have liked to go deeper into the game but these two had the most “sheet worthy” performances of the night. Forbes struggled the second time through the top of the Oregon State lineup and had a couple pitches get away from him, but for the most part he handled a tough lineup very well. 10 Ks is an impressive outing almost regardless of the rest. Some command issues on the biggest stage wasn’t ideal, but he put his team in a great spot to win this game. Unfortunately, the 2026 prospect was just better. Whitney struck out 6 of the first 7 batters and 8 of the first 11. As noted above only 2 men on base prior to 3 straight balls in play ending his evening. Both of these men earned some money tonight. Louisville will head to an elimination game while Oregon State will face off against Coastal Carolina in what I think is a can’t miss game.