The margin remained at three runs until the decisive ninth inning for the Gauchos, who will face Oklahoma State at the College World Series in Omaha next weekend.
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For the fourth straight year, the Louisville baseball team finds itself in the super regional round just two wins away from a trip to the College World Series.
Seriously, how did Cohen pull that off?
Louisville faced its first deficit of the NCAA Championship in the fourth inning after UCSB scored a pair of runs on three hits against McKay. But the freshman pinch-hitter went toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s best closers to send his team to Omaha.
“It’s just an unreal feeling”, said second baseman J.J. Muno.
“The guys said they keep letting us hang around”, Checketts said.
UC Santa Barbara’s Sam Cohen (30) swings and connects for a walkoff grand slam during an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game against Louisville, Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Louisville Ky.
Burdi got the Cardinals out of the eighth and started the ninth well in striking out Austin Bush, who fanned four times.
Dempsey Grover and Billy Frederick then walked to set the stage for Cohen.
Up strolled Cohen, who entered the best-of-three series batting.346 with a homer in 19 games with five starts.
With two outs in the inning, Brendan McKay had a solo home run, followed by a stand-up triple from Devin Hairston, an RBI double from Blake Tiberi, and a RBI single from Danny Rosenbaum.
The loss was just the second of the season at home for the Cardinals (50-13) ending their 22-game winning streak at Patterson Stadium, where they are 36-2 overall in 2016.
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UCSB is anchored by a trio of starting pitchers with Orange County ties – Joe Bieber (Laguna Hills High), Joe Record (El Dorado High) and Noah Davis (Huntington Beach High).
