Louisville Shuts Out Wright State, Wins Nashville Regional

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Louisville baseball program is moving on to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.

Taking on Wright State in the Nashville Regional final following their upset of No. 1 Vanderbilt earlier in the day, the Cardinals were able to take care of business, shutting out the Raiders 6-0 on Sunday at Hawkins Field.

Louisville (38-21, 15-15 ACC) captures their 10th regional championship in program history, and make their first trip to the Super Regionals since 2022. It's also the Cardinals' first time winning a regional as a non-host since head coach Dan McDonnell's first year at the helm in 2007.

They'll take on the winner of the Hattiesburg Regional for a best-of-three series next weekend, where a trip to the College World Series will be on the line. If Miami wins, Louisville will host the Canes at Jim Patterson Stadium, but if Southern Miss does, the Cardinals will travel to the Golden Eagles.

For the third straight game, Louisville's victory over Wright State (40-21, 25-5 Horizon) was mainly carried by their efforts on the mound. The Raiders were held to just two base hits, and generated only five total base runners.

Making his eighth start of the year as just a true freshman, left-hander Ethan Eberle (6.1 IP, 11 K, 3 BB, 2 H) set a career-high in strikeouts and innings pitched, and faced just five over the minimum in the process. Behind him, Wyatt Danilowicz (2.2 IP, 4 K) produced a perfect outing out of the bullpen to ensure the shutout.

Backing up those efforts, Alex Alicea (3-3, 2 RBI, BB), Eddie King Jr. (2-4, 2 RBI, 2B, BB), Matt Klein (2-4, RBI, 2B, BB) and Kamau Neighbors (1-3, RBI, 2B) all drove in runs for the Cardinals. Had it not been for a handful of base running blunders, the Cardinals could have plated a lot more.

Lucas Moore (2-5) and Jake Munroe (2-4, 3B) joined Alicea, King and Klein in having multi-hit days as well.

Just like in their matchup with Vanderbilt on Saturday night, Louisville came out swinging right out of the gates, and nearly blew the game wide open early. The first five batters all reached base, but could only plate two runs in the frame - both coming off of a double from King.

While the Cardinals' offense began to sputter some after that, they were able to bounce back in the middle innings. Klein added an RBI single in the fifth, then Neighbors collected a bloop RBI double in the sixth.

After issuing back-to-back one-out walks in the seventh, Danilowicz took over for Eberle, and was able to get Louisville out of the jam. In the very next frame, Alicea delivered a back-breaking two-run single to give the Cardinals some massive insurance runs.

Down the stretch, Danilowicz tossed a perfect eighth, then did the same in the ninth to close the door.

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