UC Santa Barbara pulls off all-time Cinderella win over Louisville

UC Santa Barbara finished third in the Big West conference in the regular season and had previously never advanced to the super regionals.

UC Santa Barbara’s Sam Cohen (30) celebrates as he heads for home following his walkoff grand slam to win an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game against Louisville, Sunday, June 12, 2016 in Louisville Ky. Cohen’s grand slam came off Zack Burdi, who had 11 saves, a 2.20 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 28.2 innings this season. That’s an unbelievable moment for UCSB and a total heartbreaker for Burdi and Louisville. Cohen said he connected on a second-pitch changeup from Burdi and pulled it down the line. “It’s a big day for our program, big day for our kids, I think there’s a ton of emotions you’re having”. He yielded two walks and a single to set the stage for Cohen’s dramatic no-doubt shot that improved the Gauchos to 5-0 in the tournament and sent them to Omaha, Nebraska, for the CWS.

“It’s just an unreal feeling”, second baseman J.J. Muno said.

All it took was patience.

“The guys said they keep letting us hang around”, Gauchos coach Andrew Checketts said.

But a JJ Muno single followed by back-to-back walks brought a freshman pinch-hitter from JSerra High School to the plate with the bases juiced. The victor of each bracket advances to a best-of-three championship series. 346 with a homer in 19 games with five starts.

Congratulations to UC Santa Barbara on the big win.

As much joy as there was for the Gauchos, there was just as much pain for the Louisville players.

At the plate, sophomore Brendan McKay paced the Cardinals going 2-for-4 with a home run, while sophomore Blake Tiberi was 3-of-4 with a RBI double and a run scored.