NCAA baseball: USC eliminated with shutout loss to Oregon State

CORVALLIS, Ore. — USC had two chances to clinch a spot in the NCAA super regionals, but host Oregon State dominated the Trojans twice in less than 24 hours to end their season.

Gavin Turley and Trent Caraway had two of Oregon State’s four home runs as the eighth-seeded Beavers shut out the Trojans, 9-0, on Monday afternoon to clinch the four-team regional. OSU (45-13-1), which dropped its opener to Saint Mary’s on Friday, won four games in three days to advance to a best-of-three super regional against No. 9 Florida State (41-14) that begins Friday in Corvallis.

Oregon State – which outscored its opponents 47-6 after its Friday loss – forced Monday’s winner-take-all game by hammering USC, 14-1, on Sunday night.

Turley and Caraway also homered in Sunday night’s victory over the Trojans. Turley hit three homers in the regional and upped his OSU career postseason home run record to seven. Caraway’s five home runs in the regional are a record for a single postseason.

This time, three OSU pitchers held USC (37-23) to three hits to complement the homer-happy offense.

James DeCremer (3-0), making just his second start of the season, allowed two hits and two walks with six strikeouts over five innings to set the tone for the Beavers. Eric Segura following with three scoreless innings and Laif Palmer closed it out. The defense turned five double plays before a record Goss Stadium crowd of 4,383.

The last time Oregon State had a postseason shutout was 2018, when the Beavers beat Arkansas, 5-0, to win the national championship.

Turley also had an RBI single in the first inning and his home in the third came after Aiva Arquette drilled a two-run homer. Jacob Krieg, the No. 9 hitter, had a three-run blast in the eighth inning to wrap it up. It was the Beavers’ 15th home run of the regional.

Caden Hunter (6-6), the first of five pitchers for USC (37-23) allowed five runs on four hits in three innings.

USC, which received one of the last four at-large spots in the 64-team NCAA field, was making its first regional appearance since 2015 and seeking its first super regional berth since 2005. The Trojans dominated TCU in their opener, then defeated Saint Mary’s on Saturday night before dropping the two games to the Beavers.

OSU, which is headed to the super regionals for the third time in four years, has three national titles (2006, 2007 and 2018) and six CWS appearances since 2005.