Twenty-one months ago, Oregon State athletics was dealt what many saw as a death blow when the Pac-12 imploded, leaving them without a conference. The baseball team, unlike any other sport at OSU, opted to play a completely independent schedule this season.

Caraway led off the bottom of the first inning with a line drive single to left, jumpstarting a game-changing first inning that featured seven runs and five hits, including back-to-back home runs. And the second of those homers came from McEntire, in his first-career postseason at-bat, when he belted a towering shot to left field.

With five of the eight teams in Omaha entering the NCAA College World Series with shorter than 10-to-1 odds, baseball fans are in for an unpredictable CWS.

The CWS opens Friday with the Sun Belt Conference's Coastal Carolina (53-11) playing the Big 12's Arizona (44-19) in a rematch of the 2016 finals won by the Chanticleers. No. 8 national seed Oregon State (47-14-1), an independent until the Pac-12 ramps up again in 2026-27, meets the ACC's Louisville (40-22) in the second game.

Oregon State is headed to the College World Series after beating Florida State 14-10 Sunday night to win the Corvallis Super Regional. OSU makes its eighth trip to the CWS in Omaha, a place where the Beavers have feasted. Oregon State won national titles in 2006, 2007 and 2018, and threatened a couple other times.

A legitimate Cinderella story, a conference-less powerhouse and the nation's hottest team threaten to end the SEC's reign atop the sport

I love this College World Series field, writes . We’ve got eight teams of all shapes and sizes, dreamers and big boys, small ball and big budgets. And, mostly,

The Oregon State baseball team has collected a little individual hardware since it clinched a berth to the College World Series. Three Beavers have earned All-American accolades this week, as multiple college baseball organizations have recognized the team’s season-long success.