With its season down to potentially the last six outs, the University of Louisville baseball team plated six runs in the eighth inning to storm back for an 8-3 victory over Arizona on Sunday at the College World Series.
Louisville (41-23) advances in the bracket to take on the loser of Coastal Carolina and Oregon State, which play Sunday night. The game will be played on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET.
The Cardinals were staring elimination in the face on Sunday, trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.
Jake Munroe led off the inning with a groundball to shortstop. However, it was mishandled giving the Cardinals a leadoff baserunner. Eddie King Jr. then lined a single into centerfield to make it first and second.
Arizona (44-21) then went to the bullpen and called on their closer, who was just named the NCBWA Stopper of the Year.
Tague Davis lobbed a perfect ball into right centerfield on the second pitch of the at-bat, just out of the reach of the diving right fielder to load up the bases. Zion Rose then snuck a soft single inside the right field line, sending Munroe and King to the plate to give the Cardinals their first lead of the day.
After the Cardinals had a runner thrown out at the plate for the first out, Kamau Neighbors singled to right for his fourth hit of the day that drove in Rose to extend the lead.
Garret Pike later scored on a second Arizona error in the inning and Alex Alicea laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Neighbors. Matt Klein would cap the inning with a backside single to drive in Lucas Moore to finish off a six-run, six-hit frame.
Tucker Biven then locked things down in the ninth to finish off the victory. Biven (4-0) was excellent in his first relief appearance of the postseason, twirling four shutout innings for the win. Wyatt Danilowicz added 1.1 innings of his own without a run.
Arizona jumped on Louisville starter Ethan Eberle in the opening inning on Sunday, plating a pair of runs in the first.
The Cardinals got one of the runs back in the second with a Zion Rose RBI fielder's choice, but the Wildcats answered back with a solo homer in the third to stretch the margin back to two.
Louisville's offense was held off the board through the middle innings before Moore drove in Pike with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, setting up the dramatic eighth.
Neighbors set a career-high with a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate, becoming the first Louisville player with four hits in a game at the College World Series. All nine Louisville starters had a hit on the day.