LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — It was a baseball game that kept looking for a hero, a player who would be remembered as The Guy who got his team to Omaha, Nebraska and the 2025 College World Series.
I can’t pick only one. Miami played great. Louisville played greater. It was baseball at its best, three hours and eight minutes of anxiety, anticipation and performance.
In the end, a string of University of Louisville baseball players contributed greatly to the Cards’ decisive 3-2 victory over Miami Sunday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium in Game Three of the NCAA Super Regional.
"There's something special about being in the arena," U of L coach Dan McDonnell said. "Something special about being between those lines and in the dugouts.
"Somebody is going to be crushed when it's over. I can't say enough about our players."
Indeed. The emotions bubbled over for both teams after the game. For the Miami players the tears were genuine and impossible to control. For the Cards, the joy was overpowering, leaving them wanting to stay in the middle of the Jim Patterson diamond all evening.
These Louisville players earned top billing:
*Jake Munroe, whose two-out single started the go-ahead rally in the seventh. Give Munroe extra credit for racing to second on a wild pitch.
*Left fielder Eddie King Jr., who flared a single off the glove of Miami center fielder Michael Torres to bring Munroe home with the Cards’ third run.
King is Louisville’s leading home run hitter but he showed poise and maturity on that single. Miami reliever Will Smith got two quick strikes on King.
King changed his approach, choking up on the bat more than an inch. He fouled off a high fastball. He let Smith bounce the critical wild pitch into the turf. Then he sliced the ball into short center field. With a dive, Torres got there but could not complete the catch. The elusive ball roll off his glove like a lost coin as Munroe raced home with the biggest run of the Cards’ season.
"I was just hoping it was going to drop," King said. "Honestly, I thought he was going to get there."
"That play Mikey didn't make, I promise you I've seen him make that play 100 times in practice," Miami coach J. D. Arteaga said. "I mean I'm sure he was going to catch that ball."
*And I cannot overlook Ethan Eberle, Jake Schweitzer, Justin West and Brennyn Cutts, the four Cards’ pitchers who limited Miami to two runs and eight hits while splitting nine innings.
Eberle, a freshman, worked the first five. Schweitzer, another freshman, from Trinity High School, covered the next three innings.
West, a lefty from Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman, created drama by sandwiching two walks between a pair of strikeouts in the ninth. That inspired McDonnell to summon Cutts, a transfer from Indiana State who was the only U of L player with prior NCAA Tournament experience.
Cutts worked himself into a 3-2 count but retired Miami leadoff hitter Jake Ogden on a fly ball that Lucas Moore caught about 8 feet in front of the warning track in center field. That signaled the All Clear for the Cards’ entire roster to collapse in a dog pile in the center of the field.
"It's incredible, just inexplainable, the feeling of dog piling on that mound," Eberle said. "It's something I'll never forget, even though people might have gotten hurt in it."
(Thankfully, Eberle said at the end of the press conference that no Louisville players were injured during the celebration.)
"It hurts and it stinks to lose," Arteaga said. "But I don't think we lost today. I think they just played a little bit better and made one more play than we did."
Mark it down as the Cards’ 40th victory in 62 games — as well as the program’s sixth trip to the College World Series, first since 2019.
Louisville will play either Atlantic Coast Conference rival Florida State or Oregon State Friday night in Omaha. The Seminoles and Beavers will play their decisive third Super Regional game at 9 p.m. in Corvallis, Oregon.
Eberle pitched like a senior, not a freshman. Working five innings and one batter, Eberle allowed only two hits while striking out three without a walk.
"He did not look like a freshman on the mount with so much on the line," Arteaga said.
The Hurricanes scored first, posting a pair of runs in the third inning. Max Galvin, a left-handed hitter pulled a breaking ball over the right field fence. Arteaga was certain it had the distance but was not certain it the fly ball would produce two runs.
“He got a breaking ball that backed up on him,” Arteaga said. “I was just hoping it stayed fair.”
Fair it stayed, landing just about 10 feet on the fair side of the 330 foul pole. Make it 2-0, Hurricanes.
The Cards waited until the fourth inning to tie it. Garret Pike singled. Zion Rose scored him with a double that rattled into the left-field corner. After a sizzling Tague Davis to right field, Bayram Hot tied the game on fielder’s choice grounder to short.
The fifth inning was a prime opportunity for Louisville to grab control. Didn’t happen. The Cards loaded the bases with one out. They did not score. Pike struck out on three pitchers. Zion Rose bounced into an inning-ending fielder’s choice to third base.
The sixth inning was a primary opportunity for Miami to grab control. Didn’t happen. The Hurricanes loaded the bases with one out. Sound familiar?
This is where the similarities ended. Miami’s Renzo Gonzalez slashed a ground ball that was headed for center field — until it took one sizzling hop into the glove of Cards’ reliever Jake Schweitzer.
He might be a freshman, but Schweitzer knew what to do. He underhanded a toss to catcher Matt Klein for the force before Klein completed the double play with a crisp laser to first that Davis reached to grab over his head.
Munroe and King took it from there.
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