LEXINGTON, Ky. — It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Not with Bazzana and Turley and McDowell and Kasper anchoring the best lineup in school history. Not with May and Kmatz and Keljo and Holmes carrying the pitching staff.

Not in the final season of the storied Pac-12, the best college baseball conference in the history of the sport.

But, alas, the Oregon State Beavers’ season did end Sunday, when the Kentucky Wildcats eked out a 3-2 victory in Game 2 of the Lexington Super Regional to sweep their way to the College World Series for the first time in school history.

A season that seemed destined to end with orange and black roaming Omaha instead finished with a sea of blue and white storming out of the third base dugout and stacking high into a mound of mayhem on the infield at Kentucky Proud Park.

“It’s very painful,” OSU coach Mitch Canham said. “There’s only one goal every year, and if you don’t win that very last game, it hurts.”

And this one hurt a little more than the others. The 15th-seeded Beavers (45-16) were loaded, boasting a deep, deadly lineup, a veteran, talented pitching staff, the best player in college baseball and a hunger to return to Omaha for the first time since 2018. But, during a final weekend to forget, No. 2 seed Kentucky (45-14), spurred by its small-ball offense and underrated pitching, was unbeatable.

Perhaps the biggest surprise wasn’t that the Beavers loss, but rather how they lost.

After collecting a season-low one hit in Saturday’s opener, Oregon State managed just two hits on Sunday, when they were held hitless until seventh inning. An offense that hit a program-record 118 home runs and scored a program-record 518 runs, was held to two runs, three hits and zero homers — its lowest output in consecutive games this season.

Travis Bazzana, the Golden Spikes Award finalist and potential No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, was held just one hit, a ninth-inning single Sunday. Gavin Turley (0 for 6), Micah McDowell (0 for 7), Dallas Macias (0 for 7) and Mason Guerra (0 for 4) all were held hitless in the super regionals, as the Beavers collected a whopping 25 strikeouts, failed to record an extra-base hit and finished 1 for 25 with runners on base.

“Obviously we struggled to find a little bit of a rhythm,” Macias said. “It sucks because we all want it so bad, and I know each guy wants it really bad and is out there competing as hard as they can. It’s hard to pinpoint. I think we kind of got potentially a little swing-happy and (were) playing into some of the off-speed (pitches) instead of being a little more patient. It’s just tough.”

Despite the frigid offense, the Beavers still had plenty of chances Sunday to force a do-or-die Game 3. But the little things — a few random, make-or-break plays here and there — went against them.

Kentucky struck first in the top of the second inning, using a two-out single by Ryan Nicholson and a run-scoring double by Nolan McCarthy to take an early 1-1 lead. Otherwise, the Wildcats scored via a mix of small-ball, hustle and fluke happenings.

Their second run came in the top of the fourth, when McCarthy laid down a perfect one-out sacrifice squeeze bunt. Mitchell Day led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, then raced home on McCarthy’s bunt to first base, barely beating a toss from Guerra with a slide.

The Beavers answered a half-inning later, turning four walks and a Grant Smith error into their first runs of the series and a 2-2 tie. After Wilson Weber drew a bases-loaded walk, Kasper did the same to chase Kentucky starter Mason Moore — who entered the game with a 20 1/3-inning postseason scoreless streak — and the Beavers had a golden opportunity to break things open.

Instead, Trent Caraway and Guerra recorded back-to-back strikeouts against reliever Cameron O’Brien to end the threat. It proved to be a death blow.

Three innings later, the Wildcats used more McCarthy magic to regain the lead for good. The starting center fielder, who finished 2 for 2 with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored, led off the seventh with a double down the left field line, chasing OSU starter Jacob Kmatz.

Sophomore Nelson Keljo relieved Kmatz and, after causing James McCoy to pop-up a sacrifice bunt attempt, the Beavers lefty struck out Smith on three pitches. But the third strike skipped by Weber and scooted to the backstop. Weber gave chase, Smith ran to first and McCarthy sprinted from second to third.

Amid the chaos, Keljo forgot to cover home plate and McCarthy spotted the mistake, racing around third to score the go-ahead run with a dramatic head-first slide.

The Beavers threatened in each of the final three innings. Brady Kasper reached third base with one out in the seventh, Macias made it to second base with one out in the eighth and OSU had runners on the corners with two outs in the ninth. But they couldn’t quite complete the comeback.

The ninth, in particular, was high on drama.

It started with one out, when Jabin Trosky sent a scorcher down the third base line … only to be robbed by Daly, who made a marvelous diving stab and bullet throw to first to get the out. Guerra followed with a five-pitch walk, bringing Bazzana to the plate with the game on the line. He hammered the third pitch to the right field corner, putting runners on the corners with two outs, nudging the tying run 90 feet away from home plate.

But that was as close OSU would get.

Kentucky closer Johnny Hummel fanned McDowell on three pitches, sending that sea of blue and white streaming out of the dugout.

“It felt like we were always one hit away,” Macias said. “Kind of right on the edge of just blowing it open a few times.”