OMAHA, Neb. | Ninth-inning RBI doubles by shortstop Ethan Paul and center fielder Pat DeMarco led Vanderbilt past Louisville, 3-2, at T.D. Ameritrade Park on Friday night , helping the Commodores advance to the finals of the College World Series.

Paul’s one-out double into the right-field corner scored right fielder J.J. Bleday from first, and DeMarco’s double over third two hitters later scored Paul with the winning run.

Vandy right-hander Tyler Brown closed it out in the ninth with help from second baseman Harrison Ray, who had a huge grab of a soft infield looper from catcher Henry Davis to end the game.

Lefty Jake Eder got the win in relief of starter Mason Hickman, who fired six scoreless innings.

“Well, I thought it was a very well-played college baseball game,” VU coach Tim Corbin said. “Certainly emotional for both sides. When you get to this point, you're trying to separate yourself from another championship team because really all these teams right now are championship level, and [Louisville] is certainly is that.”

Vandy (57-11) extended its school record for single-season wins, and improved to 3-0 against the Cardinals.

“Congratulate Vanderbilt,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said “It’s a really good team. They play clean. They make you earn it. It wasn't easy to score off them the two times we played them. So they get to move on.”

The Commodores (57-11) advance to play Michigan (49-20) in a best-of-three series starting at 6 Central on Monday.

Louisville had just erased a 1-0 lead in the seventh with a pair of runs—one unearned—off Eder. Meanwhile, Louisville’s Luke Smith was mowing down the powerful Commodore lineup, getting the Commodores in order in the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth, while allowing just one runner—that came on a harmless error by second baseman Justin Lavey—in the eighth.

But an emotional Smith may have poked the bear at the wrong time.

After striking out first baseman Julian Infante to end the eighth, the right-hander mouthed an obscenity in Infante’s direction. It got the attention of the Vandy dugout as well as that of home plate umpire Adam Dowdy, who had words with McDonnell after inning.

DeMarco was diplomatic about it, but it clearly fired up the Commodores at a time when the offense had been stagnant almost the entire evening.

“You know, I think that's just competition,” DeMarco said, when asked about the exchange. “He was pitching a great game, and he was keeping us off balance, and he was feeling confident. You know, in the middle of competition, you can't really say that he's being unsportsmanlike or anything like that.

“We try not to give energy to the other team. We know how that works. So we just tried to recenter ourselves, come back and focus the energy on us, and we came out on the right side.”

“That was just the adrenaline,” Smith said. “Vanderbilt is a great team, and I respect—I love that part of baseball. When they got their big hit in the ninth, they celebrate; that's how it goes. When I strike somebody out, I celebrate, and that's just the way it is.”

That initial burst of “energy” came when Bleday, who’d struck out the previous two times, walked on Smith’s 3-1 pitch with one out. Paul then smoked a 2-0 pitch, one that caught too much of the plate, just inside the right-field line and into the corner.

Bleday rounded third. The relay came to Lavey, who threw it by Davis at home as Bleday touched the plate with his hand and tied it.

“[Smith’s] pitch count was I think over 110, so he went deep into that game and walked J.J. on some close pitches,” Paul explained, when asked to walk through the at-bat. “But I knew that he was close to his end, so I just wanted to get a pitch that I could handle. I wasn't going to expand for him or chase or anything like that.

“Just got in a hitter's count and got the pitch I was looking for and put a barrel on it.”

Asked about that play, Corbin made a not-so-subtle allusion to what happened the inning before.

“I knew at some point they would land a punch, and it was going to be a matter of how we responded, and I thought the guys did a nice job. You can't play this game angry. You just can't. You have to contain your emotions. You have to breathe, and you have to center yourself in order to deliver a pitch or get the barrel to the ball.

“Ethan did that. That was a huge at-bat. But Ethan has been a part of a lot of big at-bats at Vanderbilt.”

It was just VU’s second hit since the fourth, but two more soon followed.

The Cardinals went to closer Michael McAvene, and DH Philip Clarke flared a single over second on a 1-1 pitch to put men on the corners. DeMarco then chopped an 0-2 pitch over third to score Paul with the game-winner.

In the ninth, Brown began with a strikeout of Oreinte, then, got an easy ground ball to Infante at first off the bat of right fielder Drew Campbell for what looked like out two.

Instead, the ball hit the bag and hopped over Infante’s head into right field for a double.

Brown then struck out Lavey on a 1-2 pitch on a six-pitch at-bat for the second out.

Then, with a 1-2 count, Davis hit a flare towards Ray, who made a great read, charged towards home and made a diving stab just in time to end the game.

The game nearly had a different outcome.

In the seventh, DH Danny Oriente lined Eder’s first pitch into the alley for a double, the Cardinals’ first extra-base hit of the day. A Drew Campbell sacrifice got him to third and Vandy brought the infield in.

It worked for a bit. Lavey hit a ball to Paul at short, and the senior went to his back-hand side, threw home and nailed pinch-runner Trey Leonard by a mile as catcher Ty Duvall applied the tag.

But after Davis got a single though third, with Brown warming up in the bullpen, VU stuck with Eder against right-hander Lucas Dunn. Lavey took off for third on a steal attempt and Duvall’s throw went into left field to tie the game.

After Dunn hit one back up the middle, Eder ticked it with its glove enough to change direction and get through the left side of the infield for the go-ahead run.

Vandy went in order in the eighth, and then third baseman Austin Martin grounded harmlessly to short to precede the comeback.

It was a pitcher’s duel the whole evening until the late-inning fireworks. The Cardinals briefly threatened with two on and two out in the second, but Infante speared a line drive to end that.

Hickman then set down the side in order in the third and fourth, and allowed two runners in the fifth and sixth, but neither got to second.

Vandy struck first in the third. Ray walked, and, though not going when Duvall lined a 1-0 pitch into center for a single, took a turn around second and beat the throw to third.

That proved big, because Infante grounded into a 6-4-3 double play next, which scored the run.