OMAHA, Neb. — The night before Monday’s elimination game, the Oregon State Beavers pulled out their cellphones.

One by one, they began sending messages to the rest of the team, each one a reminder that they had already had their free pass. One more loss and they would be out of the College World Series — and for some of the players, out of baseball, for good.

On Monday, it was clear that everyone had been paying attention.

After a slow start in two scoreless innings with the University of Louisville, the Beavers roared to life with a three-run rally in the bottom of the third and never let up. In the next inning, OSU racked up seven more runs, the most ever in a single inning by any College World Series team playing at third-year TD Ameritrade Park.

Though the shaken Cardinals eventually regained their composure, it was not enough.

The Beavers did just as they had instructed each other and finished with an 11-4 win.

“We’re just trying to continue our road to Omaha,” said senior Oregon State center fielder Max Gordon, who talked after the game about the cellphone messages. “We want to have the final say. Today we really played like we want to keep the jersey on our backs as long as possible.”

Key to the Beavers’ success was finding consistency, while the Cardinals cracked under the College World Series pressure and saw their season come to an end.

OSU head coach Pat Casey started the game with veteran pitcher Ben Wetzler and went with the junior left-hander until the seventh inning, when he called in reliever Scott Schultz.

Louisville, meanwhile, drained its bullpen after starting pitcher Jeff Thompson was pulled out just before OSU (51-12) went on its seven-run surge. In total, the Cardinals (51-14) went through six pitchers.

Casey said he counted on Wetzler to stay cool, and the Clackamas High School product did just that, striking out six Cardinals and allowing three runs.

“He’s a competitive guy. You want that guy when you’re up against the wall,” Casey said. “I knew he would give us a good start.”

While the Beavers kept up a steady defensive presence, the Cardinals committed a steady stream of costly errors.

The problems began in the third inning with Louisville catcher Kyle Gibson misjudging and then dropping a pop-up foul ball by Michael Conforto, who eventually walked to load the bases for the Beavers. A throwing error by Cardinals second baseman Zach Lucas while trying to start a double play on a ground ball by Danny Hayes added two runs to the Beavers’ 1-0 lead.

In the next inning, leadoff hitter Gordon began to open an even bigger wound with a base hit to left field. Four batters later, a single by Dylan Davis brought in two more runs for OSU and it was clear that Louisville was beginning to unravel.

With the temperature rising into the upper 80s and many fans abandoning their seats on the sunny side of the stadium, the Cardinals began handing opportunities to the Beavers.

Kavin Keyes reached base safely on an infield overthrow. Moments later, Louisville left fielder Coco Johnson dove for a ball hit by Gordon but missed — allowing two more Beaver runners to make their way to home plate.

Just two of the seven runs scored by OSU in the fourth inning were earned.

Louisville finally got on the board in the fifth, and the Cardinals picked up another three runs in the seventh inning. But they were never able to make up for the damage the Beavers — and Louisville’s own shabby defense — had done earlier in the game.

OSU shortstop Tyler Smith, a senior, said the Beavers’ work in the field was a key to the stay-alive victory.

“Ever since we started in the fall, we talked about how much defense has to do with winning games,” Smith said. “In Omaha that’s the most important part, playing defense, doing the fundamental things. That’s huge in a game like this, and it hurt (Louisville.)”

Oregon State also generated plenty of offense, blending 11 hits with Louisville’s four errors to push across 11 runs, seven of which were unearned. Andy Peterson was 3-for-4 and scored three runs for the winners, and Smith, Conforto and Gordon all had two hits apiece. Conforto has now reached base eight times in 10 plate appearances in this CWS.

Wetzler allowed three runs, all earned, and eight hits over 6 1⁄3 innings and improved his record this season to 10-1. Schultz worked the final 2 2⁄3 innings, allowing four hits and a run.

The Beavers move forward to take on Indiana on Wednesday (5 p.m. PDT) in yet another make-or-break game.

Though Oregon State has already lost once — 5-4 in the CWS opener Saturday against Mississippi State — the Beavers could still make it all the way to next week’s best-of-three championship series. Casey knows that story well; his 2006 OSU team lost a game in early play but ended up winning the title.

Still, Casey said he is not trying to follow paths already traveled.

“I don’t want them to think there’s anything they have to do that the ’06 club did,” Casey said of his current team. “They’re different clubs and different personnel. We talk about things this team needs to do, and the guys usually respond to that.”