Game One of the monumental 75th Men’s College World Series commenced with a battle between two conference champions backed by big arms. Coastal Carolina opted to save National Pitcher of the Year Award finalist Jacob Morrison, going with senior Riley Eikhoff. Arizona’s Owen Kramkowski, the team’s season leader in wins (9) and innings pitched (87.0), started for the Wildcats.
Catcher Caden Bodine got Coastal out of the top of the first inning by catching Brendan Summerhill stealing second base. It was Bodine’s 46th runner caught stealing this season, which tied a program record.
Coastal Carolina started the scoring in the second inning.
The Chanticleers loaded the bases with singles from Colby Thorndyke and Blagen Pado, followed by an attempted sacrifice bunt by Ty Dooley. The bunt popped into the air and Arizona pitcher Owen Kramkowski attempted to make a diving play but came up short, resulting in a fair ball and Dooley reaching base. Two batters later, Wells Sykes scorched a two-RBI single to put Coastal ahead, 2-0.
Arizona drew blood in the fourth on Mason White’s 20th home run of the season. The next at-bat, Adonys Guzman nearly sent a home run the opposite direction but came up just short and recorded a double. In the following at-bat, Maddox Mihalakis’ double sent Guzman home to tie the game 2-2 and cap the scoring in the fourth inning.
Coastal Carolina promptly made a pitching change in the fifth inning, calling in Cameron Flukey from their arsenal of aces. Flukey retired three in a row to move past the top of the frame.
In the bottom of the inning, a Blagen Pado single scored Blake Barthol to put the Chanticleers ahead 3-2.
It was a tale of two innings for Cameron Flukey, who hit the first two batters of the sixth with wild pitches. Arizona then loaded the bases on a successful bunt from Adonys Guzman. Directly after, Flukey hit his third batter of the inning to bring in the tying run. An RBI fielder’s choice from Garen Caulfield allowed Arizona to take its first lead of the game 4-3 before Coastal eventually escaped the jam.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Chanticleers responded right away when Caden Bodine’s RBI groundout brought in Dean Mihos from third base.
The seventh inning began deadlocked 4-4.
After getting out of the top of the seventh inning unscathed, Coastal Carolina put the pressure on in the bottom half via a Blake Barthol double. Walker Mitchell then laid down a near-perfect sacrifice bunt to bring Barthol to third base with one out.
Arizona brought in pitcher Garrett Hicks to overcome the heat of the Chanticleers. Hicks brought heat of his own, striking out the next two batters to end the inning and maintain the 4-4 tie.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, a two-out double by Wells Sykes gave Coastal Carolina life. Arizona intentionally walked the next batter to position itself for a force out at any bag, but Sebastian Alexander had other plans.
Alexander stroked a single to center field in the next at-bat that scored Sykes and gave back the lead to Coastal, 5-4. Blake Barthol then drove a two-RBI double into the right-center gap that stretched the lead to 7-4 for the Chanticleers.
Backs against the wall, the still-frisky Wildcats forced a pitching change in the top of the ninth after a leadoff double by Andrew Cain.
Dominic Carbone was called upon for closing duties and did just that, ending Game One of the College World Series with a 7-4 victory for Coastal Carolina.Today was Coastal Carolina’s second-straight win at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, with the previous coming in the 2016 National Championship.
Player of the Game: 2B Blake Barthol – Barthol went 3-for-5 with two RBI and one run scored. Both RBI came in the eighth inning to pad Coastal Carolina’s lead. Barthol also made the game-ending double play.
Game Two between Louisville and Oregon State was to be a chess match between the Cardinals season strikeout leader Patrick Forbes and Oregon State’s powerful offense led by one of the country’s best hitters, shortstop Aiva Arquette. Both starting pitchers, Patrick Forbes and Dax Whitney, led their teams in strikeouts this season with 107 and 111 respectively.
It’s almost as if the previous sentence was destined to foreshadow the way the game set up. The first two innings went off without a hitch for both pitchers, who looked primed for the MLB Draft one month from today. Through two innings, Forbes struck out five batters while Whitney tallied four of his own.
Through three innings, each team got through their lineup just one full time and compiled 11 combined strikeouts with only one batter reaching base.
Dax Whitney’s perfect game was spoiled in the fourth inning on a two-out single from Louisville’s Jake Munroe, but Whitney quickly put the kibosh on any mounting momentum from the Cardinals, ending the inning with another strikeout two batters later.
In the bottom of the frame, Trent Caraway broke up Patrick Forbes’ no-hitter with a leadoff single. Aiva Arquette turned a dribbler down the third base line into a single, and one wild pitch later, OSU had runners on second and third with no outs.
The Beavers kept chopping wood. Gavin Turley and Wilson Weber each drove in an RBI and suddenly, Oregon State led 2-0.
In the sixth inning, Louisville threatened with runners on second and third base with just one out. That prompted a pitching change by Oregon State, who brought in reliever Eric Segura.
A hard-hit ball by Jake Munroe caused trouble for shortstop Aiva Arquette, resulting in an RBI single for Munroe to put Louisville on the board.
Segura mitigated damage, putting out the next two batters to get out of the inning still holding a 2-1 lead.
Another pitching change occurred in the bottom of the sixth after Patrick Forbes loaded the bases with one out. Justin West was tasked with getting out of the jam to keep the game within proximity.
West almost did just that, forcing a hard-hit ground ball primed for a double play to shortstop Alex Alicea, but Alicea had trouble with it, resulting in one run for Oregon State and zero outs for Louisville.
West battled and struck out the next two batters to end the inning, but Oregon State took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning.
With no runs scored in the seventh or eighth inning for either team, Louisville was down to its last three outs facing OSU closer Kellan Oakes.
The Cardinals made the most of those three outs.
Zion Rose led the Cardinals off in the top of the ninth, and on the first pitch he laced a ball into left. Left fielder Gavin Turley attempted a dive at it and missed, and Rose ended up with a leadoff triple.
Two pitches later, Tague Davis scored Rose with an RBI triple. Louisville inserted Tanner Shiver as a pinch runner for Davis, and Shiver was caught stealing second base for the first out of the inning.
Alex Alicea was next up and reached third base in a more unorthodox fashion than his teammate earlier in the inning.
An errant throw allowed Alicea to reach first then advance to second, and then an error by catcher Wilson Weber saw Alicea stretch it to third base. One pitch later, a single up the middle by Kamau Neighbors scored Alicea to tie the game 3-3.
Kellan Oakes got OSU out of the inning finally, and it was up to the Beavers to end it in the bottom of the ninth or risk extra innings against the Cardinals who had found new life.
In the ninth, Aiva Arquette reached base on a line drive single with one out. That’s when Gavin Turley stepped up to the plate and laced a ball deep into the left field corner. Arquette came all the way from first to beat the throw at the plate and score the game’s winning run. Oregon State finished what they started, staving off Louisville in the ninth to advance to the winners bracket.
Player of the Game: SS Aiva Arquette – Arquette proved that he is one of the nation’s premier hitters, going a game-best 2-for-3 with two runs scored, including the game-winner.
Honorable Mention: LF Gavin Turley – Turley went 2-for-5 at the plate with two RBI. None bigger than the final hit and RBI that walked it off for OSU.
There could not have been a grander start to the diamond anniversary of the College World Series. Two high level games that featured stellar pitching, even better bats, and just the right amount of late-game heroics. If today was any indication of what’s to come, fans are in for one of the most exciting College World Series in recent memory. One thing that was missing – beach balls, and a successful attempt at a wave in the outfield. Aside from that, there should be no qualms with today’s CWS action.
Tomorrow features two incredibly intriguing matchups as well, with UCLA facing Cinderella Murray State in Game Three. Game Four will be a heavyweight brawl between the two favorites crawling with MLB talent, Arkansas and LSU.
Sunday, Arizona and Louisville will face off in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Coastal Carolina will meet Oregon State in the winners bracket at 6 p.m.
