OMAHA, Neb. — Size and speed served Louisville well in the Sugar Bowl and in the Final Four, and here they are again in the College World Series.

Oregon State (50-12) and Louisville (51-13) meet in the losers’ bracket today in a noon PDT game at TD Ameritrade Park, with the loser leaving Omaha. As if an elimination game wasn’t obstacle enough, the Beavers will be going against a hard-throwing, 6-foot-6, 250-pound pitcher and an offense that already has stolen 150 bases.

But the Beavers, even with their pitching and hitting issues, seem prepared for the Cardinals’ size and speed and unworried about the task at hand.

“It’s the heat, it loosens you up,’’ OSU coach Pat Casey said. “We’d be tighter than hell if we didn’t have this heat.’’

Speaking of heat, a lot of that has been applied to the lower back of closer Max Engelbrekt, and after throwing briefly Sunday, he pronounced himself “absolutely’’ ready to pitch. His command will be in question, as he has done little more than limp around since leaving the Super Regional opener on June 8 with back spasms.

Louisville’s Game 2 starter, Jeff Thompson (11-1, 2.00 ERA), has no such issues with his massive frame. Thompson, a third-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers earlier this month, has a low-90s fastball and an excellent hard slider and has held batters to a .169 average this year with 109 strikeouts in 103 1⁄3 innings.

Then again, the Beavers have fared well against right-handed power pitchers this season — just ask No. 1 overall pick Mark Appel of Stanford and second-round pick Trevor Williams of Arizona State. Those two combined to go 0-2 against the Beavers this season, giving up 13 hits and 7 walks in 10 innings with an ERA of 7.20.

“I think we match up pretty well,’’ OSU outfielder Michael Conforto said. “It may or may not be that we kind of rise to the occasion, rise to our competition, but this team enjoys a little bit of a challenge.’’

Oregon State counters with a pretty good pitcher of its own — Ben Wetzler (9-1, 2.11).

Since the NCAA tournament field was expanded in 1999, only two teams have lost their first game of the CWS and gone on to win it all. One of those teams was Oregon State, which lost to Miami 11-1 to open the 2006 CWS and went on to win its first of back-to-back titles.

“We’ve got the arms and the bats to do it,’’ OSU shortstop Tyler Smith said.

And at least one more chance to prove it.