Louisville Drops Game Two of Super Regional vs. Miami

One day removed from earning a resounding victory in game one of their Super Regional vs. Miami, the Louisville baseball program could not finish the job in game two, falling 9-6 on Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The best-of-three series between the Cardinals (39-22, 15-15 ACC) and Hurricanes (35-26, 15-14 ACC) now heads to the "if necessary" game on Sunday, where the winner will punch their ticket to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m. EST.

Outfielder Eddie King Jr. (3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI) struck a pair of home runs, while third baseman Jake Munroe (1-4, HR, RBI) hit his third long ball of the weekend after he had a two-homer day on Friday.

Outfielders Zion Rose (1-4, RBI) and Lucas Moore (1-4, RBI, BB) also drove in runs, but Louisville squandered several opportunities at the plate. They hitting just 3-for-10 as a team with runners on base as a team, and 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Right-hander Tucker Biven (3.2 IP, 1 K, 2 BB, 7 H, 1 ER) got the ball for the Cards in game two, but did not have the same form when he shoved Vanderbilt in the Nashville Regional last weekend. While he was responsible for just one run, his seven hits were a career-high.

First-Team All-ACC third baseman Daniel Cuvet and shortstop Jake Ogden carried the load for Miami. Both Canes struck home runs, driving in three runs a piece in the process.

Miami cracked the scoreboard first, collecting an RBI single in the second inning. But the Canes' lead didn't last long, as Louisville immediately put up a three-spot in the third. Rose tied the game with an RBI single of his own, then King blasted a 430-foot, two-run shot to the berm to put the Cardinals in front.

The fourth inning saw a tremendous swing in momentum in favor of Miami. Munroe sent a leadoff homer 377 feet to left-center, but it was the only run scratched across in the frame after second baseman Kamau Neighbors (1-3) was picked off at second with the bases loaded.

The bottom of the frame wasn't kind to Louisville, either. It began with a leadoff fielding error by shortstop Alex Alicea (1-3, 2B), then with two outs, The U collected four straight base hits - including an RBI single and a three-run blast from Ogden that resulted in Biven getting pulled.

Adding insult to injury, a controversial call on the field played a role in Miami's fourth inning four-spot. Right before the go-ahead homer was a single in which, earlier in the at-bat, a ground ball that appeared fair and would have ended the inning, was ruled foul by the first base umpire.

After Biven's day was done, Louisville got some stability on the mound out of the bullpen during the middle innings. Right-hander Wyatt Danilowicz (1.1 IP, 1 K, 1 BB) got the Cards out of the fourth and put up a zero in the fifth, while fellow righthy Jack Brown (1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) tossed a scoreless sixth.

This allowed King to tie the game in the seventh with a 430-foot solo shot, but the Canes had an immediate counterpunch. After allowing a runner to reach third with one out, Brown was pulled in favor of left-hander Ty Starke (1.2 IP, 2 K, 4 H, 3 ER), who then gave up a tie-breaking RBI single. An inning later, Starke then allowed a three-run bomb to Cuvet.

Louisville tried to mount a last-minute comeback in the ninth, but the only run they could scratch across was an RBI single from Moore.

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