Oregon State baseball schedule: How Beavers returned to CWS as an independent
When the eight-team College World Series begins on June 13 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, it will do so as one of the more diverse and well-represented fields in over two decades.
That diversity includes an independent, a first in Omaha since 2004.
That independent is none other than Oregon State, one of college baseball's more storied programs and a top program in the Pacific Northwest.
A longtime Pac-12 member, the Beavers orchestrated their way around the two-year rebuilding period of the Pac-12 by cobbling together a fully independent schedule that helped earn them a top-eight national seed in the NCAA baseball tournament and end a seven-year drought of not being at the CWS.
The Beavers begin their eighth trip to Omaha on June 13 at 7 p.m. ET against Louisville. A win against the Cardinals would advance Oregon State further in the "winner's bracket," where it could face its former Pac-12 foe, Arizona, or red-hot No. 13 Coastal Carolina.
Here's what to know about independents history at the CWS, why Oregon State is competing as an independent and more:
When was the last time an independent made the College World Series?
According to Baseball America, Oregon State is the first true independent program to punch its ticket to Omaha and the CWS since Miami did so in 2004.
Has an independent won the College World Series?
Yes, an independent baseball team has won the College World Series. In fact, there have been two independent programs that have won the CWS: Miami and Holy Cross. Miami has won the CWS four times as an independent.
The Hurricanes' 1999 CWS title was double-historic, as they were the first No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA baseball tournament to win it all in Omaha. Since then, there has only been one other No. 1 overall seed to win the CWS: Tennessee last year.
Here's a breakdown of which independent teams have won the CWS, per the NCAA website:
- 1952: Holy Cross
- 1982: Miami
- 1985: Miami
- 1999: Miami
- 2001: Miami
Oregon State baseball schedule 2025
Oregon State baseball's 2025 schedule has been unorthodox to say the least, as the Beavers had to construct a full independent schedule on their own.
The reason for this is due to the folding of the Pac-12 from conference realignment that saw 10 of the 12 Pac-12 teams leave for the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. Oregon State was left as one of the two teams that stayed in the Pac-12, along with Washington State.
As previously reported by Paste BN Sports, the Beavers' baseball program was one of the last programs at Oregon State that had to make a decision on how it would compete during the transition years between the dissolution and reformation of the Pac-12.
Being the lone independent team at the Division I baseball level this season (Washington State joined the Mountain West as an associate member), Oregon State coach Mitch Canham had to put together a full college baseball schedule by himself. Oregon State is also expected to compete as an independent next season as well.
"I got to call everybody," Canham told The Athletic recently. "And I got told no a lot. Some teams were like, ‘Eh, that’s our bye week, we want our guys to rest.’ But when someone said yes, you can’t just fill the schedule to fill the schedule. We had to be strategic — with RPI, road games, are we gonna get some home-and-homes out of this for 2026?"
What Canham and his staff put together for Oregon State's 2025 schedule is far from normal for a Division I program: 20 true road games, 15 neutral site games and 20 games at home in the regular season. Noted by The Athletic, the Beavers had two 11-day road trips during the season.
The Beavers opened the season on a 10-game stretch where they played in three consecutive multi-team neutral-site tournaments in Arizona and Texas. Oregon State's first home game came on March 7 against San Diego.
Since the Beavers didn't compete in a conference this season, Oregon State didn't have an opportunity to automatically lock up a spot in the NCAA baseball tournament through a conference tournament.
The Beavers, however, didn't have to worry too much about their postseason status going into the NCAA baseball tournament bracket reveal show as an independent — compared to Notre Dame football in the pre-12-team College Football Playoff era. An RPI ranking of seven going into Championship Sunday of conference tournament week helped the Beavers receive a top 16 national seed on May 25 going into the NCAA baseball tournament selection show on Memorial Day.
"We call ourselves 'the road warriors,'" Oregon State pitcher Dax Whitney told the Statesman Journal, part of the Paste BN Network. "I think we're more prepared than anybody in the country to go do this."
Oregon State baseball postseason schedule
Below is Oregon State's postseason schedule:
Corvallis Regional
- Friday, May 30: St. Mary's 6, (8) Oregon State 4
- Saturday, May 31: (8) Oregon State 7, TCU 2
- Sunday, June 1: (8) Oregon State 20, TCU 3
- Sunday, June 1: (8) Oregon State 14, USC 1
- Monday, June 2: (8) Oregon State 9, USC 0
Corvallis Super Regional
- Friday, June 6: (8) Oregon State 5, (9) Florida State 4 (Final 10 Innings)
- Saturday, June 7: (9) Florida State 3, (8) Oregon State 1
- Sunday, June 8: (8) Oregon State 14, (9) Florida State 10
How many former Pac-12 teams are in 2025 CWS?
On top of Oregon State, two additional former Pac-12 teams made the eight-team 2025 CWS field: No. 15 UCLA and Arizona.
To make it to Omaha, UCLA − which now competes in the Big Ten − swept through the Los Angeles Regional with convincing wins over Fresno State, Arizona State and UC Irvine before taking the Los Angeles Super Regional vs UTSA in two games.
As for Arizona, which now competes in the Big 12, the Wildcats have had to win on the road. Starting with a perfect 3-0 record to claim the Eugene Regional, which featured wins over Cal Poly and Utah Valley, Arizona then pulled off a reverse sweep over No. 5 North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Super Regional to punch its ticket back to Omaha.
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