OMAHA, NE. — Getting to the
Men's College World Series wasn't enough for
Louisville baseball . The
Cardinals had been there five times before but have yet to play in the national championship series. With their backs to the wall after falling to the elimination bracket, U of L rallied late for an 8-3 win over Arizona on Sunday at
Charles Schwab Field . The victory came two days after Louisville (41-23) opened the CWS bracket with
a 4-3 walk-off defeat against Oregon State. After the game,
Jake Munroe vowed that the team would have a better offensive performance moving forward, and the Cardinals delivered. They totaled 13 hits, the team's third double-digit hit performance in the last five games. "Once the tide turned, that's where Louisville takes advantage of you," Wildcats coach Chip Hale said. "They're really good with the bunting. They're really good with the baserunning. They put a lot of pressure on you. While we were ahead, we kept them at bay. But you've got to give them credit. Once they got the chance, they saw the opening like we did during the other games during the playoffs. They really took advantage of it." The win was deja vu for Cardinals coach Dan McDonnell, who led Louisville to its first CWS appearance in 2007. That year, U of L also played on Father's Day and beat Mississippi State, 12-4, in the first game of the elimination bracket. The Cardinals lost the next game to North Carolina, 3-1, and finished with a program-record 47 wins. "A lot of those '07 guys were sending me text messages today because we won that day. So it's just special," said McDonnell, who took a picture with his sons, Jacob and Justin, on the field after the game Sunday. "Just a lot of great memories, great memories of my dad supporting me around the game. That's what I've tried to pour into these guys: just enjoy it and realize what your parents do to get you to this spot and how much fun they're having. They're having a lot of stress, too, but, man, they're having a lot of fun. So really happy to be in this spot and celebrating these guys."
Tucker Biven (4-0) picked up the win, holding the Wildcats to five hits. He fanned two in four innings.
Louisville had built some momentum in the seventh inning, but its offense didn't fully come together until the eighth. Down 3-2, the team scored six runs on six hits, highlighted by
Zion Rose's two-RBI base hit. Munroe,
Eddie King Jr. and
Tague Davis started the inning with consecutive hits to load the bases before Rose drove in Munroe and King. "It's funny how baseball is. Everybody's hitting hard line drives to center but they're getting caught, but the little bloop hit (from Davis) gets down," Rose said. "That was big on the energy, our confidence. We knew (Biven) was going out for that last inning. So, it was shutdown after that." The Cardinals also benefited from two Arizona errors as Rose,
Garret Pike ,
Kamau Neighbors and
Lucas Moore rounded out the team's scoring.
Louisville moved
Alex Alicea to the top of the batting order against Arizona, shifting everyone down. McDonnell had previously moved Alicea down in the order over the last month to reduce his at-bats while dealing with a thumb injury. "He's competed so well, and he's looked so good the past few weeks that I thought he was more than capable of doing it," McDonnell said of Alicea, who had a hit and RBI against Arizona. "And I really wanted to just give Lucas a chance to — he hasn't been necessarily rolling as he has been at times. So let's let Lucas stand on deck and swing the bat and get loose. "I've said it publicly, and I don't say it to put pressure on Alex — no disrespect to anybody in the ACC — but he's a candidate to lead the league in hits. He's that good. If we can get him for a full, healthy year next year, he's that good. He's one of the better hitters on the team." Pike, who had been the No. 5 hitter against Oregon State, moved further down to the 8-hole spot. He had a double in the seventh inning and scored on Moore's sacrifice fly. Neighbors was the only Cardinal to stay in place at the 9-hole spot and led the team with a
career -high four hits. "Nothing really changed, I'd say, as far as mindset and routine," he said. "You guys know how baseball is. Today just happened to be my day. These guys always picked me up throughout the year. I'm just lucky that I was able to pick them up today."
Louisville got off to a slow start and gave up two runs to Arizona in the top of the first. Cardinals pitcher
Ethan Eberle , who's had a solid postseason, struggled to start. After striking out the leadoff batter, the freshman lefty hit back-to-back batters then gave up three consecutive hits. Adonys Guzman had an RBI single then scored on a hit for the Wildcats' 2-0 start. The Cardinals were unable to respond in the bottom half of the inning. Alicea and
Matt Klein each flew out, and Moore struck out for the 1-2-3 inning. U of L's offense was quiet until its six-run, six-hit eighth inning.
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
