Long Live the King: Louisville and Eddie King Jr Walk Off Oregon State to Stay Alive in College World Series

Photo Courtesy of Louisville Athletics

Omaha, NE– Lightning didn’t quite strike twice, unless perhaps in a parallel universe. With a familiar sense of deja vu, the same two teams as Friday night played each other and experienced the same 9th inning… but in reverse. This time it was Louisville seeing a multiple run lead collapse after making a critical error in the final inning. And it was Louisville responding in the bottom of the 9th by walking it off with a fly ball to win it. Tucker Biven and Eddie King Jr were the heroes as the Cardinals avenged their Friday night loss to the Beavers by beating them 7-6 on Tuesday.

The Louisville offensive day quite literally started and ended with Alex Alicea being driven in by Eddie King for a run. The Cardinals struck first in the 1st when King roped a line drive over the shortstop with two outs to drive in Alicea from 3rd inning. From then on, Louisville never trailed and were only tied briefly in the 9th inning before winning it.

Since the last day of the regular season, Eddie King Jr has been the hottest hitter in the country. After going 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs, the senior outfielder is now a scorching 23-for-40 (.575) with seven doubles, six home runs, and 19 runs driven in. Each of his RBIs today came in separate plate appearances– a single and two sacrifice flies, including the game winner. He also blistered a double to the wall in left center field in the 3rd inning. 

“He’s a very professional hitter,” said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. “He doesn't play in the smallest parks. He doesn't take advantage. He’s a real hitter. I think he's going to play the game for a long time. He’s a good outfielder. There's power. There's contact.”

“Eddie…Eddie…Eddie”

The chants of King’s first name echoed across the ballpark whenever he stepped to the plate, something that started in Regionals and has since carried over to Super Regionals and here in Omaha.

“Hearing chants like that in a moment like that, it warms my heart,” King said. “And I'm so glad that it could be for Louisville.”

Another senior, Brennyn Cutts, took the mound for just his second start of the year and– aside from one mistake that he left too far up in the zone— was fantastic. He tossed three innings and set new highs in pitches (66) and K's (7). He generated an incredible 17 whiffs. His seven strikeouts were the most in a game since April 6th of 2024 when he was a starting pitcher at Indiana State. His lone mistake was a fastball left up in the zone that Jacob Krieg crushed to left field for a two run home run in the 4th.

Just prior to Oregon State’s two run blast in the 4th, the Cardinals enjoyed a home run trot of their own. Jake Munroe, one of the most underrated hitters in the ACC, worked a 10-pitch at-bat in the top of the 1st inning that ultimately ended up with him striking out. And yet he credits seeing all those pitches as the reason why he was able to ambush the first pitch of his second plate appearance in the 3rd inning. With Lucas Moore in scoring position, Munroe launched a towering fly ball into the left center field gap that cleared the wall. It was the junior third baseman’s fourth home run over his last 11 games. While he isn’t quite as hot as King, Munroe is 14-for-39 (.359) since the last day of the regular season with seven extra base hits and nine driven in.

That means Louisville’s four and five hitters are a combined 37-for-79 (.468) with an incredible 20 extra base hits and 28 runs driven in over their last 11 games. After Munroe and then Oregon State’s home run, it was 3-2 in favor of the Cardinals. Then Zion Rose scorched a solo shot down the left field line that landed in the Louisville bullpen to make it 4-2. In just four innings, the Cardinals and Beavers had combined for three home runs– the same amount as the combined total number from the tournament’s first eight games.

Oregon State would sneak a run across in the 6th to cut the deficit to 4-3, but reliever Justin West remained poised and composed after loading the bases with zero outs. He minimized the damage by allowing just one run, retiring the next three batters on a strikeout, an RBI fielder’s choice, and a fly out. Louisville would tack on insurance runs in the 6th and 7th to build a crucial 6-3 lead. They just needed three more outs.

On Friday night to open their College World Series campaign, it was Louisville who entered the top of the 9th trailing. On that night, the Cardinals were rewarded with a bizarre error that allowed them to tie the score and extend the game. The tables turned on Louisville this time, instead.

Reliever Wyatt Danilowicz took to the mound to close the game but struggled with command. It started with an Aiva Arquette homer that was absolutely smoked at 112 MPH off the bat. After allowing back-to-back baserunners without retiring a batter, McDonnell turned to Tucker Biven. 

Biven, the former bullpen ace turned reliable weekend starter midseason, is a lifelong Louisville fan from New Albany, Indiana. He has been to every single James Patterson Stadium dogpile in his life. He had just pitched four innings out of the bullpen two days ago, and yet he demanded the ball tonight. As the line from the cult sports classic The Replacements goes, “Winners always want the ball when the game is on the line.”

The junior righty laced up his cleats in the 7th inning and made it clear to pitching coach Roger Williams that he intended to pitch in this game. It was not a request so much as a demand. And he was more than ready when the situation called for it with the tying run on first, no outs, and the count at 2-0. 

“It wasn't like we told Tucker to go down there,” McDonnell explained. “He gets so mad if I take the ball out of his hand. It's not easy to take the ball out of his hands. But how do you not love that in a pitcher?”

Biven gave up a single to the first batter he faced to load the bases. There were still no outs. Louisville seemed to catch a break when a tailor-made ground ball was hit right to defensive wizard Alex Alicea at shortstop. The Cardinals were about to be gifted with two outs for the price of just one run. They could still get out of this dire situation.

Then the ball skipped under his glove and bounced into the outfield. Two runs came across to score and the game was tied. Even worse, there were no outs. The game was unraveling. But Biven was on the mound and the team’s faith in him never wavered.

“I'm comfortable anytime he's in the game, no matter what,” said King. “If he's on, if he's off, it's Tucker Biven– how can you not be comfortable with him on the mound? So as soon as I saw him come int0 the game, I just knew we were okay. I trust him.” 

“The guy to my left is just an absolute warrior,” McDonnell said post-game. “It’s so much fun giving him the ball. And even though he hasn't always won, he knows, win or lose, that we trust him and I'll go down with him any day of the week.”

They didn’t need to go down with Tucker Biven, because the bulldog from Indiana came through with enormous guts with the season hanging in the balance. He struck out the next two batters and got the third to pop up. Just like that, the Cardinals were out of the inning. Tucker Biven had done it again.

On Friday night, it was Oregon State who went into the dugout after blowing a lead and then keeping the game tied. This time it was Louisville’s turn. And leading it off for the Cardinals was none other than Alex Alicea.

In the Louisville dugout there’s a shirt hanging in the dugout with sleeves covered in various mantras that are meaningful to the team. The number on the shirt is the current game number and is given out to what is basically the player of the game for the team. Then that player– who may have been the best player on the field that night– has to regift the shirt after the team prayer as a show of gratitude to a teammate. 

“I knew when Alex got on in the ninth, if we won this game, the shirt was going to Alex,” said McDonnell.

In a moment where most players press and try to force some magic to make up for their mistake, Alicea remained stoic and poised. He drew a walk to lead off the inning.

“He just embodied what we always talk about,” said Jake Munroe. “It's so what, now what? He took some close pitches as well. Just to have that level head, that steady heart rate… it's huge for us, and it's huge for him going forward.”

Lucas Moore reached on catcher’s interference before Matt Klein reached on an error following what would’ve been a successful sacrifice bunt. The bases were loaded and there was just one out after Jake Munroe struck out. 

“Eddie. Eddie. Eddie.”

The King of Louisville was up to bat and there was no doubt as to what would happen next. The senior star drove a fly ball to center field for a flyout and Alicea scampered home to complete the win. Teammates mobbed King near first base in jubilation. 

As for the awarding of the shirt, McDonnell fulfilled the promise to himself when Alicea got on base to lead off the ninth.

“I wanted to give it to Alex so badly because of what he went through and to make sure he knew, ‘hey, you're the winning run’,” McDonnell said. “We won because of you.”

As is tradition, Alicea regifted the shirt to a teammate.

“As much as he said ‘Eddie and Jake, I love you guys’, he flipped the shirt to Tucker Biven. And I just thought it was very fitting that Tucker walked away with the shirt.”

When asked jokingly as to whether his bases loaded strikeout prior to the game winning sac fly by King was scripted, Jake Munroe laughed and said “this has definitely been Eddie's postseason. I struck out and I was upset, but I saw Eddie, and I was like, ‘yeah, we're fine.’ Eddie King has been doing this all season. He's one of the greatest Louisville baseball players there is.”

“Eddie… Eddie… Eddie”

The legend of Eddie King will continue in Omaha as the Cardinals are set to face Coastal Carolina on Wednesday. Should they beat the Chanticleers twice, they’ll earn an opportunity to play for a National Championship. Wouldn’t that be something?