OMAHA, Neb. — The Oregon State baseball team filed one by one down a cramped hallway in the bowels of Charles Schwab Field Friday night, slapping each other’s backs, fist-bumping onlookers and cracking jokes.

They were charging toward the locker room following another miraculous and charmed postseason win, and coach Mitch Canham, who was last in line, flashed a wide grin just as he strolled through the door to celebrate with his players.

“Well, that was fun,” he said.

It sure was.

The Beavers survived a nightmare top of the ninth with another memorable comeback, using a Men’s College World Series.

The win thrust Oregon State (48-14-1) into the winners’ bracket of the eight-team tournament, where it will play Coastal Carolina on Sunday at 4 p.m. PT.

It was another entertaining and exhilarating ending for a charmed team that has outlasted five elimination games and earned two walk-off wins in the postseason. And at some point, one can’t help but wonder if these gritty, never-say-die Beavers have become a team of destiny.

“Skip keeps saying that this is the way the story is meant to be written,” junior right-hander Kellan Oakes said, “and we’re just going to keep riding with that.”

And what a ride it was Friday night. A game that started with two dominant starting pitching performances, solid defense and timely OSU hitting, devolved into a sloppy recreation of the “Bad News Bears” in the make-or-break final inning.

After Wyatt Queen delivered 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, Oakes was called on in the top of the ninth to close out a 3-1 lead. Only there was a problem — the Beavers’ always-reliable defense, the one that entered the night ranked seventh in college baseball in fielding percentage (.982), stumbled and bumbled away the lead.

Zion Rose, the first batter Oakes faced, ripped a first-pitch line drive to left field, seemingly opening the frame with a solid single. But Turley sprinted in from left field toward the ball and dove head-first, attempting to make an incredible play. Instead, the ball sailed past him and dribbled all the way to the wall, sending Rose screaming into third with a leadoff triple. Tague Davis followed by slapping an 0-1 pitch toward second base, where AJ Singer had been playing deep in shallow right, and Davis legged out an infield single, scoring Rose.

Suddenly, Oregon State’s lead had been trimmed to 3-2.

And the mayhem was only beginning.

Tanner Shiver entered as a pinch-runner for Davis and, two pitches later, took off for second base. But OSU catcher Wilson Weber erased him with a perfect bullet throw, temporarily ending the threat. The play would loom large later.

Alex Alicea followed with a grounder to shortstop. Aiva Arquette charged the ball, fielded it cleanly, and fired a throw to first … that sailed high and wide of the bag, crashing into the protective net. Alicea sprinted toward second and Weber — who had hustled down the line to back-up first base — scooped up the errant throw and tried to beat Alicea. Instead, the ball eluded Weber’s grip and, inexplicably, sailed backward. Alicea raced all the way to third base, leaving the tying run 90 feet from home plate.

One pitch later, Kamau Neighbors ripped an RBI single to center to tie the game. And, just like that, thanks to a barrage of Beavers bloopers, Louisville had snatched the mojo. Or so it seemed.

In the third base dugout, after Oregon State had finally awakened from its ninth-inning nightmare by recording the third out, it was as if nothing had changed. There was no huddle or pep-talk. No panic in the on-deck circle. No dwelling on what could have been.

“Never a doubt,” Arquette said, describing the mentality and vibe in between innings.

Wait. Not even one doubt?

“No, never,” Arquette said. “Especially not with we’ve been through. Never.”

Sure enough, the team that has awed and inspired all postseason responded to its latest dose of adversity with a shrug. Arquette started the ninth-inning rally by ripping a one-out single to center field, sending Turley to the plate. And the beloved Beavers All-American, who earlier this season became the program’s Home Run King and career leader in RBIs, didn’t waste any time. He demolished a first-pitch two-seam fastball down the left field line for a double.

Rose, the Cardinals’ left fielder, gave chase and slid to try to knock down the ball. But it eluded him and scooted away. He finally picked it up and fired at the relay man, who pivoted and tossed the ball home. Arquette, who had already been waved around third base by coach Joey Wong, dove head-first, beating the throw and delivering another wild OSU postseason win.

The Beavers spilled out of that never-a-doubt dugout and charged toward Turley at second base, where a sea of black uniforms bobbed and bounced in a roaring celebration that stretched all the way to the outfield. The melee ended shortly after Canon Reeder doused Turley with a yellow Gatorade ice bath, putting an euphoric exclamation point on his first-career walk-off hit — and Oregon State’s first walk-off win at the MCWS.

“Gavin hit a missile,” Arquette said. “I saw (Rose) kind of misplay it and then I told myself, ‘I have to book it home. We have to win this game.’ It was awesome. It’s everybody’s first time in Omaha, so what a way to kickstart things. It was fun.”

The memorable ending overshadowed an incredible World Series debut by Whitney, who retired the first 11 batters he faced, including six of the first seven on strikeouts. He went on to record nine strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings, during which he allowed one run and three hits.

“Dax gave us a phenomenal start,” Singer said. “You can’t ask for more out of starter, especially a young guy like that.”

His counterpart, junior right-hander Patrick Forbes, also shined, striking out 10 over 5 1/3 innings. But the Beavers managed seven hits off him and manufactured three runs, using Turley and Reeder groundouts and a Weber run-scoring single to build 2-0 and 3-1 leads.

The Beavers finished with 11 hits, including 10 singles, as Arquette (3 for 5, two runs scored), Turley (2 for 5, two RBIs), Singer (2 for 4) and Tyce Peterson (2 for 4) had multi-hit nights.

And in the end, the “never-a-doubt” Beavers delivered another dose of postseason fun.

“Getting to run out there on the field and celebrate in Omaha is just a dream,” Segura said. “Hopefully we get to do one again, that’d be sick. It was really fun.”

— @freemanjoe.bsky.social