Arizona baseball season ends after Louisville rallies in CWS elimination game
- Arizona, who held a 3-2 lead going into the eighth, became the first team eliminated from the tournament.
- Key errors by Arizona allowed four unearned runs for Louisville in the decisive inning.
A magical six-run eighth inning kept Louisville alive at the 2025 College World Series.
The Cardinals defeated Arizona 8-3 to stave off elimination on June 15 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. With the loss, the Wildcats become the first team eliminated from the double-elimination tournament.
Arizona held a 3-2 lead entering the bottom of the eighth inning, but allowed Louisville to score six runs, including four runs that were unearned due to two fielding errors. The inning began with an error by shortstop Mason White to allow Jake Munroe to reach safely and snowballed from there.
Zion Rose gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game on a two-RBI single. After taking the lead, Louisville kept on adding runs. Kamau Neighbors, who went 4-for-4 with four singles, drove in a key insurance run to make it 5-3. Garret Pike scored when he stole home due to an error by pitcher Tony Pluta.
Louisville added two more runs to total six in the inning and sent 10 hitters to the plate. After Ethan Eberle lasted just 3⅔ innings and allowed all three Arizona runs, Wyatt Danilowicz and Tucker Biven combined to pitch 5⅓ innings of scoreless ball to allow the Cardinals' offense time to find its rhythm.
The Wildcats, which lost 7-4 to No. 13 seed Coastal Carolina on June 13, see their season end despite leading for much of the game.
The Wildcats scored twice in the top of the first inning against Louisville starter Eberle, who hit two batters and allowed three straight singles. Adonys Guzman hit a solo home run in the third inning to give them a 3-1 lead. Guzman, Garen Caulfield, Tommy Splaine and Aaron Walton had two hits each for Arizona.
Louisville moves on to play Tuesday in an elimination game against the loser of Sunday’s late game between Coastal Carolina and Oregon State.
—Field Level Media contributed to this report.