Louisville baseball advanced to the sixth College World Series in program history on Sunday with its 3-2 win over Miami in the NCAA Tournament super regional round.
The winning doesn’t have to end in Omaha.
These Cardinals aren’t the best group coach Dan McDonnell has ever taken to the CWS, but they have the best chance of emerging from pool play into the final series. Parity rules college baseball this season, a point hammered home by No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt and No. 2 seed Texas being eliminated in the regional round.
“I’m walking into this meeting texting our strength coach and trainer (Monday’s) schedule,” McDonnell said. “My wheels are turning like we still got baseball to play. I want them to celebrate with their families, but we want to keep this journey going.”
It was just the second time since the NCAA went to national seeds in 1999 that the top two seeds failed to advance to the super regional round. The first occurrence was in 2014 when No. 1 Oregon State and No. 2 Florida each lost early.
The Cards played a part in the Commodores making history as the first top seed that didn’t reach the regional final, beating them once.
With the way Louisville can hit, it could follow the path Coastal Carolina took in 2016 when it won the CWS for the school’s first national championship. The Chanticleers had no previous history of tournament success before they won it.
Louisville senior pitcher Brennyn Cutts, an Indiana State transfer, is the only player on the roster who had previous NCAA Tournament experience.
Yet, there they were on Sunday, booking their charter flight to Omaha after they finally cleared their celebratory dogpile on the field.
The Cards are a confident crew, based on how they’ve played. They can also take confidence in believing they can beat anyone remaining. Miami was 20-3 this season when holding its opponents to three runs or fewer.
“We weren’t worried about none of the seeds winning or losing,” said U of L designated hitter Zion Rose. “We were just worried about playing our game to the best of our abilities.”
The Cards played three teams that advanced to the super regionals — North Carolina, Florida State and Arizona. They held a combined 5-2 record against the trio, including winning the ACC series against both the Tar Heels and Seminoles.
U of L’s first game on Friday in the CWS will be against the winner between the No. 9 seed Noles and No. 8 seed Oregon State.
In the Cards previous five trips to Omaha, they hold a 4-10 record. Twice — in 2013 and 2014 — they were sent packing after just two games. Twice — in 2007 and 2017 — they won one game before being eliminated.
Their best showing to date was in 2019 when they won two games and reached the semifinals, only to lose to the eventual national champions, Vanderbilt.
There’s a different feeling this time around, and it’s not the slight tingle that comes from many on the team dyeing their hair blonde.
“A big saying in the program is, ‘Why not us?’ and there’s a first time for everything,” said U of L pitcher Jake Schweitzer, a former Trinity High standout, who threw three scoreless innings on Sunday. “So why not us to be the first team (in program history) to make it?”
It’s a question the Cards are prepared to answer this week in Omaha.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
