LOUISVILLE, Ky .(WDRB) -- You don’t have to win to advance in Omaha. Not in the opener. Not in the draft.
And on Friday night, nobody advanced more than Patrick Forbes — even in a loss.
Louisville dropped its College World Series opener in walk-off fashion, falling 4-3 to Oregon State. But if you’re looking for who helped himself most on college baseball’s biggest stage, it might be the Cardinals’ 6-foot-3 right-hander from Bowling Green.
Forbes struck out 10 Beavers over 5 1/3 innings, flashing upper-90s velocity, a sharp slider and the kind of mound presence that has vaulted him into first-round MLB Draft consideration. It was another strong outing in a postseason that has become something of a personal reintroduction.
He opened the year as Louisville’s Friday night starter and, at one point, led the nation in strikeouts. But the workload eventually caught up with him. Forbes missed a couple of starts late in the season before returning in time for the stretch run — and he’s looked better than ever.
In his postseason starts, he’s been electric. A Louisville postseason record 13 strikeouts in a regional win over East Tennessee State. Nine more in a Super Regional Game 1 win over Miami. Ten on college baseball’s biggest stage against Oregon State.
He’s now struck out 120 batters over 71 1/3 innings this season. And he may not be done.
Yes, the early shadows at Charles Schwab Field made seeing pitches tougher than reading a menu in a dark steakhouse. But that doesn’t take away from what Forbes delivered. His fastball popped. His slider had bite. And his command never wavered.
“Really just trying to get ahead,” Forbes said after Friday’s loss. “The slider was good late in the count. Just kind of try to get them in between the fastball and slider. That was working to get some swing and miss. They put some good swings on some balls. Give them credit. I tried to keep us in it, let the offense come back. But that's baseball.”
That’s baseball — and that’s growth.
Forbes arrived at Louisville as a shortstop, the 2022 Kentucky Mr. Baseball. He wanted to hit. And he did, briefly. But the mound kept calling. He began working out of the bullpen, developed his slider, added a cutter, and grew into the ace of a College World Series team.
“I had a decent amount of draft interest out of high school,” he told Baseball Prospect Journal earlier this season. “But I really wanted to go to Louisville. It’s been great to develop in this program.”
That development was on full display in Omaha.
Oregon State had hit 20 home runs in eight postseason games heading into Friday night. Forbes kept the Beavers in check. He gave up two runs in the fourth but matched highly regarded freshman Dax Whitney -- already a projected top prospect -- nearly pitch for pitch. Louisville rallied late. But Oregon State had the final say.
That didn’t change what Forbes showed.
“Patrick Forbes, his best days are ahead of him,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. “I think the sky’s the limit.”
The pitcher Louisville built is delivering his peak performances when it matters most. Whether he gets the ball again depends on how far the Cardinals can go. But Forbes already made the kind of statement that lasts longer than a loss.
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