3 games. 3 days. 1 tough bullpen. Louisville’s CWS challenge resumes vs. Oregon State

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The math isn't pretty. To keep its season alive, Louisville will have to win three games in three days — against two top-tier opponents — just to reach the College World Series finals.

But if there's a formula for doing it, the Cardinals might have it. And it starts in the bullpen.

Louisville faces Oregon State in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Omaha. The Beavers beat the Cardinals 4-3 Friday in a game Louisville nearly stole with a ninth-inning rally.

Moving forward, the Cardinals likely will lean hard on their pitching depth. So far, it has more than held its own.

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All indications are coach Dan McDonnell and pitching coach Roger Williams will turn to Brennyn Cutts to start Game 3 and look for a team effort from the pen.

Cutts has pitched 4 2/3 innings in the postseason, giving up one earned run and a pair of hits while striking out seven.

In Sunday's 8-3 comeback win over Arizona, Wyatt Danilowicz and Tucker Biven combined for 5 1/3 scoreless innings in relief, stranding four inherited runners and shutting down Arizona after a three-run fourth.

Biven hadn't pitched out of the bullpen all postseason after moving into the starting rotation in late April, but worked the final four innings Sunday on just 53 pitches.

"I just do whatever the team needs," the junior righthander said. "I knew I might be called on down there."

Louisville's bullpen owns a 1.80 ERA through seven nine Tournament games, and has an ERA of 1.08 in 8 1/3 innings in Omaha. Head coach Dan McDonnell has used seven different relievers during the postseason. That depth will be tested again Tuesday — and beyond, if Louisville wins.

"We've got a lot of trust in our bullpen," McDonnell said.

The coach also has a lot of trust in his offense – it leads CWS teams with a .314 average in Omaha -- but he had to light a fire under it midway through the team's victory over Arizona in Sunday. In an impassioned dugout speech, he could be heard urging his players to shorten up their swings with two strikes, to put the ball in play – and not to wait until the ninth inning.

Turns out, they got things going in the eight, erupting for six runs to break the game open. McDonnell is hoping that opens the floodgates for a team that had scored just six runs in its two previous postseason games.

But if needed, the team prides itself on delivering in pressure situations late, according to transfer second-baseman Kamau Neighbors, who went 4-for-4 on Sunday with a key base hit during the eighth inning rally.

Louisville has scored seven of its 11 CWS runs in the seventh inning or later, including the six-run eruption Sunday that followed a ninth-inning rally that fell just short against Oregon State in their CWS opener.

"We think we're the best late three-inning team in the nation," said Neighbors, who leads all CWS batters with a .714 average out of the No. 9 spot. "That's just our mindset."

It's not the smoothest road forward. But the Cardinals have done this dance before — rallying late, leaning on arms, patching together wins. And if Sunday showed anything, it's that this team won't be intimidated by the situation or the stage.

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Louisville scores 6 runs in 8th inning to rally past Arizona in College World Series, 8-3