Louisville Stunned by Bellarmine in Final Midweek Game of Season

Hosting Bellarmine for their final midweek game of the 2025 season, the Louisville baseball program found themselves on the wrong end of a massive upset, falling to their crosstown foe 10-9 on Tuesday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The No. 19 Cardinals (34-18, 14-13 ACC) not only suffered their first home midweek loss of the season after previously being 9-0, it's their first loss to the Knights (14-38, 8-19 ASUN) in eight meetings since they made the jump to D1 in 2021.

Bellarmine entered the day with an RPI of 259th, giving Louisville their worst loss since losing 8-3 to Western Illinois back on Feb. 26, 2021, who ended that season ranked 261st in the RPI.

Facing a Knights squad that was hitting just .248 as a team and averaging only 6.2 runs per game, the Cardinals' pitching staff struggled to secure outs. They posted six strikeouts to six walks, gave up nine base hits and issued five hit-by-pitches.

Both Nate Earley (1-1, HR, 2 RBI) and Zion Rose (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) struck home runs on the afternoon. Kamau Neighbors (2-4, 3B, BB), Lucas Moore (2-4, RBI, BB), Garret Pike (2-5, RBI) and Bayram Hot (2-4, RBI) had multi-hit days, while Jake Munroe (0-2, RBI, BB) also drove in a run for UofL.

Louisville jumped on the scoreboard first with a pair of runs in the opening frame. Pike got the scoring started with an RBI single, then Munroe added a sacrifice fly right behind him.

After starting pitcher Peter Michael (2.0 IP, 4 K, 3 BB) kicked off the game with a pair of scoreless frames, Bellarmine made their move with seven runs over the third and fourth innings.

Jack Brown (1.1 IP, 5 H, 6 ER) was inserted to start the third, with the Knights collecting an RBI single, while also scratching across the game-tying run thanks to a rundown. Brown was yanked in the fourth after giving up two more RBI singles, with a third coming home thanks to a fielding error. Even Colton Hartman (1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) gave up a two-run double in the frame.

Hartman was able to bounce back with a scoreless fifth, but Bellarmine got right back to work. Casen Murphy (0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER) took over in the sixth, giving up a two-run homer and forcing Ty Starke (1.0 IP, 1 K) to finish the frame.

It took until the sixth inning, but Louisville was finally able to re-find some offensive momentum, plating three runs in the frame to snap a streak of nine unanswered by Bellarmine. Hot hit an RBI single, while Earley smashed a two-run homer.

Bellarmine nearly blew the game wide open in the seventh, forcing early exits to both Starke and Eli Hoyt (0.1 IP, 2 BB) in the frame. By some miracle, the only run scored in the inning came on a bases loaded HBP by Jake Schweitzer (1.2 IP, 1 H).

After Schweitzer tossed a scoreless eighth, Louisville made a serious charge at the lead, plating four runs in the bottom of the frame to make it a one-run game. Moore hit an RBI single, with another run coming home on a throwing error, and Rose blasted a two-run home run.

Schweitzer and Wyatt Danilowicz (0.2 IP, 1 K) combined to pitch a scoreless ninth, and Neighbors was able to get to third on a two-out triple, but he could not get home and tie the game.

Next up for Louisville, they'll wrap up the regular season with a three-game series against Wake Forest. First pitch of game one is slated for Thursday, May 15 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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