Hot bats and clutch pitching helps Louisville baseball deliver conference knock out.
It is that time of the baseball season again. Conference play is here for Louisville baseball and they kicked off ACC action by welcoming the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech into town this past weekend.
While the Cardinals were coasting on a ten-game winning streak heading into conference action, it was anything but easy against Georgia Tech.
Cards stay hot to start
The scoring for the weekend got started in the third inning when Patrick Forbes tagged a bases clearing triple to center to give the Cardinals an early 3-0 lead.
Christian Knapczyk added an RBI single in the fourth and Ryan McCoy launched his fifth home run of the season in the fifth inning. Already at a 5-0 lead heading into the sixth, it appeared that they would be coasting to an easy win.
The Yellow Jackets bats came alive in the sixth inning however.
Tech sent 11 men to the plate in an inning that saw costly Cardinal errors from Haven Mangrum and Knapczyk. Following a sac-fly in the seventh inning, the Yellow Jackets had taken a 7-5 lead.
As this team has already shown though, no lead will ever be safe.
Mangrum found a form of redemption in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI groundout to bring the Cardinals within one. Then in the eighth, Forbes continued to show immense poise for a freshman with a bases loaded walk to tie the game at seven.
Riley Phillips and Tate Kuehner combined to throw a pair of scoreless innings to set up the heroics of the ninth inning.
Logan Beard drew a two-out walk and then proceeded to take second on a wild pitch. Knapczyk followed with a walk of his own which set up Jack Payton.
Payton took a 1-1 breaking ball right back to center, scoring Beard and giving Louisville a walk-off 8-7 win.
Ryan Hawks got the start on the mound for the Cardinals but it was Tate Kuehner that got the win in relief, improving his record on the season to 1-0 and adding to the team’s 11-game winning streak.
Saturday would be a much different tune however.
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How the tune changed for Louisville baseball
Georgia Tech would jump out to an early 5-0 lead through the first three innings thanks to a pair of home runs off of Louisville starter, Greg Farone.
Logan Beard gave Louisville its first run of the game with an RBI in the third but Georgia Tech would respond with a run in the fourth to once again extend their lead to five.
The biggest offensive inning for Louisville came in the fifth. Jack Payton tripled home Knapczyk and then proceeded to score on an RBI groundout from Ryan McCoy. JT Benson followed with an RBI single and the Yellow Jacket lead was trimmed to two (5-3). That would be it for the Cardinal offense however.
Georgia Tech proceeded to add some late insurance in the ninth inning and it proved to be too much for the Cardinals to handle. The loss snapped an 11-game winning streak for Dan McDonnell’s squad and set the tone for the rubber match on Sunday.
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The bounce back
Louisville baseball jumped out to an early lead on Sunday thanks to the continued hot hitting of JT Benson who doubled in Knapczyk in the first. Beard then brought Eddie King Jr. home in the second on a sac-fly, giving starter Carson Liggett, an early 2-0 lead.
Georgia Tech answered right back with a three-run fourth of their own to take a lead. However, that would be their only runs of the day.
The Cardinals would score the first two of their seven unanswered runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Beard drove in King once again and then Kilen put the good guys out in front with an RBI single to center. Will Vierling added on a run in the fifth with a sac-fly to make it a 5-3 game.
In the sixth, Beard launched his fourth home run of the season, already matching his home run total from last season.
The game unraveled in the eighth for Tech as the Louisville bats were able to capitalize on a bullpen that could not find the strike zone and added on three more runs, propelling Louisville to a 9-3 win and a series victory.
Liggett continued his strong start to the season by allowing just three runs over six innings of work. He got the win, improving his record to 4-0 on the season. Tucker Biven and Tate Kuehner got the final nine outs with Kuehner picking up the save. Tate continues to solidify himself as the top late inning option out of the Cardinal bullpen.
The Cardinals also got the baserunning firing on all cylinders as they stole eight bases on the Yellow Jacket staff, their most in a game since 2021.
Louisville now carries a 17-2 record into a midweek tilt against Western Kentucky on Tuesday, followed by a weekend series against Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
Top performers of the weekend
Logan Beard
4-10, HR (4), 3B, 4 RBI
Jack Payton
7-15, 3B, 3 RBI
JT Benson
5-11, 2B, 2 RBI
What’s next for Louisville baseball
Tuesday, 3/21: Western Kentucky (Louisville, KY – Jim Patterson Stadium)
Friday, 3/24: @ Notre Dame (South Bend, IN – Frank Eck Stadium)
Saturday, 3/25: @ Notre Dame (South Bend, IN – Frank Eck Stadium)
Sunday, 3/26 @ Notrer Dame (South Bend, IN – Frank Eck Stadium)
