CLEARWATER, FL - Down, 6-3, sixth-seeded Rutgers rallied for five runs in the eighth inning to take an 8-6 lead over Louisville, but the third-seeded Cardinals countered with three runs in the bottom-half of the frame and held on for a 9-8 victory over the Scarlet Knights in the opening game of the BIG EAST Baseball Championship Tuesday morning at Bright House Networks Field.

Rutgers will now play seventh-seeded Cincinnati, a 6-2 loser to second-seeded Connecticut, in an elimination game tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. at Bright House Networks Field.

Louisville raced out to a 6-0 lead with three runs in the first, a run in the second and two more in the fifth, while ending RU starter Matt Pustay's (Hamilton, NJ) day after just four innings.

The Scarlet Knights finally got on the board with one swing in the sixth inning, as First Team All-BIG EAST performer Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ) followed a pair of singles by Luis Feliz (New Brunswick, NJ) and Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ) with a three-run home run over the right-field fence. It was Frazier's fifth home run in his last nine games and 10th of the season.

The Scarlet Knights continued their momentum into the eighth inning with a five-run rally to capture their first lead of the game. Feliz led off the inning with a single up the middle and Frazier followed two batters later with a one-out walk. That set the table for Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, NJ), who smacked a ball off the top of the wall in right field for a double to bring home both Feliz and Frazier and cut Louisville's lead to a single run. Steve Hook (Langhorne, PA) then drew a two-out walk and Frank Meade (Linden, NJ) lined a ball down the right-field for a grounds rule double, scoring Hill to tie the game. Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, NJ) then capped RU's scoring barrage with a single through the right side to bring home Hook and Meade and give RU its first lead of the contest.

Jim Jansen (Hillsdale, NJ), who came on in for Pustay in the fifth, worked three scoreless innings of middle relief before handing the ball over to Joe Baione (Staten Island, NY) to start the eighth.

Louisville opened the inning with a walk, base hit to right field and a bunt down the third-base line for a single to load the bases with no outs before being replaced by Matt Giannini (Watchung, NJ). Giannini issued a walk to bring home a run before getting a strikeout. Issiah Howes then slapped a single up the middle to bring home a pair of Cardinal scores as Louisville re-captured the lead, before Giannini induced an inning-ending double play.

However, the damage had already been done as Louisville reliever Griffin Bailey got Feliz to fly out to center field, and Grose and Frazier to ground out to the shortstop to earn the win for the Cardinals.

Pustay gave up six runs on 10 hits in four innings of work for RU. Baione was saddled with the loss, falling to 1-2 on the year.