Louisville Baseball Throttled at Cincinnati

Making the trip up I-71 for a midweek showdown against Cincinnati, the Louisville baseball program was flat out embarrassed by their rival, falling 12-2 on Tuesday at UC Baseball Stadium.

Adding in their lackluster series finale at Virginia Tech this past Sunday, the No. 18 Cardinals (18-6, 3-3 ACC) have been thoroughly outclassed in back-to-back games, losing by a combined 17 runs. Not only is it UofL's worst loss to the Bearcats (13-11, 1-5 Big XII) in 34 meetings under head coach Dan McDonnell, it's their worst since falling 16-4 back on Apr. 5, 1986.

Facing a Cincinnati squad that was batting just .280 on the season heading into the matchup, Louisville's pitching staff struggled mightily to get outs. While the Cards struck out 14 Bearcats, they also gave up 10 walks and 15 base hits. Defensively, they also committed three errors on the evening.

UofL wasn't much better at the plate, either. Eddie King Jr. (2-3), Lucas Moore (1-3), Jake Munroe (1-4, 2B) and Garret Pike (1-3, 2 RBI) had the only base hits for Louisville, and the team as a whole struck out 11 times.

Louisville was the first to jump on the scoreboard, plating a pair of runs in the opening frame thanks to a two-run RBI single from Pike. Cincinnati immediately got those two runs back in the bottom of the frame, hitting a pair of RBI singles off of starter Justin West (1.0 IP, 2 K, 2 BB, 6 H, 6 ER).

But in the second, the wheels completely fell off, as the Bearcats would put up six in the inning. West was yanked after giving up a three-run homer, Brennyn Cutts (1.0 IP, 2 K, 2 BB) would allow another run to come across on a wild pitch, then a throwing error brought home two more.

Ethan Eberle (1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 BB, 2 H) would toss a scoreless third, but UC got right back to work in the fourth with a four-spot. Tague Davis (1.0 IP, 2 K, 1 BB, 5 H, 4 ER) was tasked with pitching the frame, but gave up two RBI singles and a two-run double.

Jake Gregor (1.0 IP, 2 K, 1 H), Alex Gay (1.0 IP, 1 K), Aaron England (1.0 IP, 2 K, 2 BB) and Brandin Crawford (1.0 IP, 2 K, 2 BB, 1 H) were able to keep UC off the scoreboard down the stretch, but UofL's late inning offense was non-existent. In fact, after the first inning, Louisville generated just three baserunners.

Zion Rose (0-1) was hit by a pitch in the third and allowed on base in the sixth on catcher's interference, King collected a single in the seventh, while Munroe struck a double in the ninth.

Next up for Louisville, they'll return home for a three-game series with ACC newcomer Cal. First pitch of game one is slated for Friday, Mar. 28 at 6:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

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