5 men’s NCAA baseball tournament players to watch
The Mongomery Advertiser’s Adam Cole and The Tennesseean’s Aria Gerson break down the top players to watch in the men’s NCAA baseball tournament.
When Oregon State takes the field in the Corvallis Super Regional of the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament, the Beavers will attempt to further their history as one of the top programs in the Pacific Northwest and the country.
It is the second straight trip to the super regional round for Oregon State and fourth in the last eight years. Now the Beavers will play for their first trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska for the first time since winning it all in 2018.
But unlike previous trips to the supers, the Beavers have no conference affiliation: They are competing as independents.
An independent baseball team? It’s basically unheard of in college athletics. As Oregon State opens up the Corvallis Super Regional on June 6 against No. 9 seed Florida State, here’s what you need to know about the Beavers’ conference affiliation and more:
Is Oregon State baseball in a conference?
No, Oregon State is competing as an independent in the 2025 college baseball season. It competes as the lone independent team at the Division I baseball level.
According to The Athletic, the Beavers are set to compete as an independent next season as well before they rejoin the Pac-12 in 2027. Come 2027, the Pac-12 will add several additional programs such as Gonzaga through realignment.
What was Oregon State baseball’s previous conference?
Oregon State baseball has not always been an independent. Prior to the 2025 season, the Beavers were a longtime member of the Pac-12 Conference.
The Beavers were one of four founding members of the Pac-12, which was originally called the Pacific Coast Conference, in 1915. Oregon State was a member of the Pacific Coast Conference until 1959, when it competed as an independent for a brief stint before returning to the conference in 1964.
Why is Oregon State baseball competing as an independent?
Oregon State baseball is competing as an independent due to the folding of the Pac-12.
One of the leading factors in the downfall of the Pac-12 was the conference’s inability to construct a media rights deal that would provide its members comparable revenue shares with other members of the Pac-12.
The fold and realignment of the Pac-12 began when UCLA and USC agreed to join the Big Ten in 2022, which happened after Oklahoma and Texas agreed to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. This then led to Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten, while four other Pac-12 programs — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — agreed to join the Big 12. The last two programs to leave the Pac-12 were Cal and Stanford, who joined the ACC.
Oregon State and Washington State are the lone two members of the Pac-12.
The Beavers’ baseball program was one of the last programs at Oregon State that had a decision made on how it would compete during the transition years between the dissolution and reformation of the Pac-12. Competing as an independent has caused some headaches for the Beavers, most notably in how they construct their schedule. This is why Oregon State played just 20 home games in the regular season.
“I didn’t bite right away,” Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes said in a May 25 report from The Athletic on the Beavers’ baseball program going independent.
Barnes added: “I wanted him to show me the roadmap before we committed to it. The last thing we needed was to leave our baseball program wandering in the wilderness. I think baseball is a microcosm of our entire existence here. Remember, we did the independent football schedule too, for 2025. So we’ve had to do it in more than one area, and we knew there was going to be risk. We all pitched in, but Mitch drove it. He and his staff executed it beautifully.”
Is Oregon State independent in all sports?
No, Oregon State only competes as an independent in baseball.
When the Pac-12 folded and Oregon State, along with Washington State, had to figure out their conference affiliations and ways of operation, the Beavers agreed to a two-year conference affiliation agreement with the West Coast Conference for several of its programs.
The agreement between Oregon State and the WCC allows 10 programs to be affiliate members of the conference for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years. These programs include men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s golf, cross country, volleyball, women’s rowing and softball.
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