This University of Louisville baseball team continues to defy the odds, destined for a third game in the 2025 College World Series. After seven innings on Sunday, the Cardinals are only six outs from packing their bags.
Pessimistic, bleak outlook with UofL coming to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Out there on the mound for Arizona is Tony Pluta, the last guy Louisville wants to see. The man the National College Baseball Writers of America had named the Stopper of the Year, with a whopping 14 saves and and dazzling earned run average of 1.26. “The best pitcher in college baseball,” as the ESPN play-by-play announcer says on at least three occasions. “The very best pitcher in college baseball,” they would add one more time for emphasis.
But then comes the unexpected, the improbable, an unbelievable sequence of events.
As if following the script from a Hollywood sports flick, the Louisville offense explodes for an unbelievable six runs in the inning. Emerging from the eruption with an five-run lead going into the ninth. No way a shell-shocked Arizona team was ever going to recover. Louisville claims an 8-3 victory and a chance to redeem itself against Oregon State in an elimination game on Tuesday.
Not fond of game action recaps, but this is just too good:
The rally begins with a Jake Munroe ground ball to shortstop, a routine ground ball that is juggled and the Cardinals have a runner. Eddie King, Jr. lines a single to center and UofL has runners on first and second. Tague Davis then taps a a perfect ball into right centerfield, just out of the reach of the diving right fielder to load the bases.
Zion Rose taps a soft single inside the right field line, sending Munroe and King across home plate. After a runner is thrown out at the plate for the first out, Kamau Neighbors singles to right for his fourth hit, driving in Rose.
Garret Pike later scores on a second Arizona error in the inning and Alex Alicea lays down a squeeze bunt that scores Neighbors. Matt Klein caps the inning with a single, driving in still another run to finish off the astonishing comeback.
Equally impressive is the relief pitching of Tucker Biven (4-0) who locks down the Arizona bats in the final inning. Four marvelous innings of shutout pitching, probably the highlight of his Cardinal career.
No idea who will be on the mound Tuesday, with UofL having utilized most of its starting pitching staff in the last two games. That’s Dan McDonnell’s job and he’s pretty good at what he does.
Hopefully there’s more magic in the Louisville tank.
