For the first time since 2019, the Louisville Cardinals are headed back to Omaha. In a tense, emotional winner-take-all battle at Jim Patterson Stadium, Louisville edged fellow ACC power Miami (FL) 3-2 in Game 3 of the Louisville Super Regional, capping off a dramatic three-game set and completing a remarkable postseason turnaround.
The final game in the series was every bit the war of attrition expected from two battle-tested programs. Each inning delivered anxious tension, big moments, and momentum swings as neither side gave an inch. Game 3 served as a microcosm of the series: hard-fought, emotionally charged, and separated by the slimmest of margins.
Miami struck first with the game’s only home run — a laser down the right field line from left fielder Max Galvin in the third inning. The two-run shot silenced the Louisville crowd momentarily and gave the Hurricanes a quick upper hand.
In the bottom of the fourth, Louisville responded with a textbook sequence: a leadoff single, a ringing double, and another sharp single brought in two runs to even the score. Suddenly, the energy swung back to the home dugout.
Still tied 2-2 in the seventh, the breakthrough finally came — though barely. Cardinals left fielder Eddie King Jr. lofted a soft line drive into shallow center, a dying blooper that Miami center fielder Michael Torres nearly snared with a diving effort. But the ball ticked off the tip of his glove and rolled away, allowing Jake Munroe to race home from second. Munroe’s fist-pumping sprint past third was the moment the crowd had waited for — a lead in a game where every run felt like gold.
Over the final two innings, the Cardinals allowed just one Miami baserunner — a lone single — and closed out the game with back-to-back shutdown innings from the bullpen. Reliever Tyler Grimm earned the save, inducing a routine fly ball to center for the final out, and was mobbed by teammates as Louisville dogpiled near the mound.
“This group just refused to quit,” Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell said postgame. “We were left for dead after the ACC tournament. But they believed in each other, and now they’re headed to Omaha.”
The road to this moment wasn’t smooth. Louisville dropped eight of its last 11 regular-season games and bowed out of the ACC Tournament in the first round. Few predicted a deep run. But the Cardinals have since rattled off six wins in seven NCAA tournament games, including gritty back-to-back victories to take the Super Regional series from the Hurricanes.
Miami, which put together an impressive regional run of its own, was inches away from flipping the game on multiple occasions. But in a sport where timing and inches matter, the Hurricanes came up just short of their first College World Series trip since 2016.
Louisville, meanwhile, advances with momentum and belief — qualities that seemed in short supply just three weeks ago.
The Cardinals now prepare to join seven other programs in Omaha for the 2025 Men’s College World Series. And if Sunday night’s Game 3 is any indication, they’re bringing plenty of fight with them.
