Louisville Starts Fast, Smashes Miami in Super Regional Opener

Kicking off their Super Regional against Miami, the Louisville baseball program exploded early and cruised to victory in game one of the best-of-three series, winning 8-1 on Friday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The Cardinals (39-21, 15-15 ACC), who are making their 10th all-time appearance in the Super Regional round and first since 2022, improve to 10-5 in home Supers under head coach Dan McDonnell. They've won five consecutive in such games since getting swept in the 2016 Louisville Super Regional vs. UC Santa Barbara.

More importantly, they're now one win away from making their sixth all-time appearance in the College World Series, and first since 2019. Game two against the Hurricanes (34-26, 15-14 ACC) is set for Saturday, June 7 at 11:00 a.m. EST.

Jake Munroe (2-3, 2 HR, 5 RBI, SF) went yard twice, marking the first multi-homer and five-RBI postseason game by a Cardinal since Ben Metzinger on June 5, 2022 vs. Michigan. His efforts at the plate helped Louisville take a 7-1 lead through the first three innings.

Garret Pike (1-4, HR, RBI) also hit a homer, while Eddie King Jr. (2-3, 2B) and Matt Klein (2-3, 2 B, BB) joined Munroe in having multi-hit days. Seven of Louisville's starters collected base hits as part of a 10-hit team effort.

Staff ace Patrick Forbes (5.2 IP, 9 K, 4 BB, 4 H, 1 ER), who set the program's postseason single-game strikeout record last weekend, had a "bend but don't break" outing against Miami. While he allowed 10 runners to reach base and worked himself into a pair of bases loaded jams, he also gave up his fewest earned runs since Mar. 7 vs. UIC.

Forbes was able to work his way out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the second, and Louisville's hitters took advantage of the momentum swing in the bottom of the frame. Pike jumped on the first pitch of the inning for a 371-foot leadoff home run, then Munroe launched a 432-foot moonshot off the batter's eye for back-to-back homers.

Miami created another bases loaded jam in the third, but the Canes could only collect a sacrifice fly off of Forbes. Immediately afterwards, he Cardinals then countered with a five-spot in the bottom of that inning.

Two runs came in on a bases loaded throwing error, then Munroe smashed the first pitch he saw for a 427-foot, three-run blast to left field. He also added a sac fly an inning later in the fourth.

Louisville's efforts at the plate cooled down the stretch, generating just one base runner in the fifth through eighth innings. However, their pitching was able to carry them to the finish line.

Brennyn Cutts (1.1 IP, 2 K, 1 H, 1 BB) got the final out of the sixth and tossed a scoreless seventh, while Justin West (2.0 IP, 1 K, 1 H) worked around a leadoff double to put up a zero in the eighth. Following a nearly hour-long rain delay, West went back out and closed the door with a scoreless ninth.

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