Louisville passes in front of the Redbirds; US teams meet Monday for the Illinois State Super Regional Post

"Obviously, that was not the way we conceived it," said IPU coach Steve Holm. "But we did a good job this year taking a ball like that and intervening the next day."

The Redbirds and 3rd seeded regional cardinals meet on Monday at noon (CDT) in a winning draw with a spot in the Super Region.

"You have to love where we are," said Holm. "Six months ago, if you asked these guys they would grab this opportunity, they would jump on the opportunity."

Louisville (46-16) was imposed in front of the IPU starter, Jeff Lindgren, with two points in the second. The Cardinals had to survive in Indiana earlier in the day to try another shot against the Redbirds.

"We knew the day would be long, but it was a fun day," said Louisville coach Dan McDonnell. "We had to launch the bats and we started them."

ISU (36-25) made a run at the bottom of the second. Joe Butler stood out, took second place on a wild course, continued in third place when Gunner Peterson failed and scored on a sacrificial fly of Nick Zouras.

But Smith (6-0) did not allow a sure shot from the third to the eighth inning.

"After the third, I had an idea of ​​all my throws," Smith said. "I felt good all night, the adrenaline started and the fans (2,345 spectators) played an important role."

Smith, who had not started a match since April 16, worked 8½ innings, took out seven and walked three.

"It was fun to watch," McDonnell said. "We needed it a lot."

"Luke has launched an excellent game," said ISU Central Field Player John Rave, who opened half of the ISU premiere with a single single. "He controlled three fields very well, he had everything to himself and left us in a kind of imbalance."

Two bloops and an explosion were successful in ISU in the fourth quarter.

After Jake Snider's first home run of the season erased the right-hand wall, a walk and Zeke Pinkham's single on the left field preceded a two-run triple Lucas Dunn.

Right-handed player Joe Aeilts dipped head-on near the foul line after Dunn's ball, but the ball rebounded from his glove into fault territory as two points broke through for a margin of 5 -1 in Louisville.

The Cardinals, who will be the local team on Monday, kicked six rounds in the round of 16 against a parade of four Redbird lifters.

Smith left after conceding a hat-trick Aeilts in the ninth. Aeilts scored on a setback.

"We are ready to leave, we have always been," said Butler. "We love this opportunity, we have a lot of confidence in our guys, we can not wait to play (Monday) and try anything."

Holm chose not to use Colton Johnson, Jacob Gilmore, Mitch Vogrin and Brett Wicklund on Monday.

"We were looking for Lindgren to help us go through three stages and re-evaluate the situation," said Holm. "You had to make a decision there, we certainly knew we had to show more life offensively to burn some of those other big boys."

Dalton Harvey, the winner of the relief Friday against Indiana, conceded two points in 3. Michael Sebby worked 1½ scoreless frames to close the game.

"Everyone who has the pulse, everyone will be on the bridge," Holm said of his plans for Monday. "We do not expect anyone to have a full game, it will be a match, we have left-handed, right-handed, we will try to distinguish it."

Snider, who has launched three of his four career tours in the NCAA tournament, finished with three hits and three RBIs for Louisville.

Louisville eliminates Indiana: The Cardinals qualified for the title with a 9-7 decision against Indiana.

The Hoosiers were 7-0 after five innings, but Louisville got four in the sixth, one in the eighth and two in the ninth.