LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With their weekend series against Clemson heading to the game three rubber match, the Louisville baseball program fell flat on their face in the series finale, suffering a 17-7 defeat via seven inning run-rule on Sunday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
With the series loss to the No. 4 Tigers (34-9, 15-6 ACC), the Cardinals (25-18, 10-11 ACC) move to just 2-5 in the ACC series so far this season, and get back under .500 in league play.
Yet again, the pitching staff for Louisville struggled immensely. They tied a season-high in earned runs with 17, and their 18 hits allowed was the second-most on the year. The Cardinals gave up 17 earned runs on 21 hits in a 21-3 loss to Virginia on Apr. 12.
Offensively, Alex Alicea (2-4, 3 RBI, 2B) tied his career-high in RBI, while Isaac Humphrey (1-3, HR, 2 RBI) drove in multiple runs as well. Matt Klein (3-4) also had a three-hit day.
Clemson’s batters teed off on Louisville’s pitchers to start the contest, scoring seven unanswered runs and 12 over the first three innings. Starter Will Koger (1.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER) gave up a pair of RBI doubles and a two-run home run in the first, then Riley Phillips (1.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER) surrendered a two-run bomb of his own on top of a solo homer in the next inning.
Alicea broke the Cardinals shutout in the second with an RBI single, but the Tigers immediately responded with a five-spot in the third. After Phillips gave up a leadoff hit, Dan Snyder (0.0 IP, 2 BB, 3 H, 4 ER) was inserted into the game, but proceeded to allow two RBI singles and a bases clearing double before Jared Lessman (3.0 IP, 2 K , 1 BB, 3 H, 1 ER) got Louisville out of the inning.
After Clemson tallied an RBI single off Lessman in the next frame, Louisville started to claw back into the game. JT Benson (0-3, RBI, BB) had an RBI groundout in the fourth, then Humphrey launched a solo homer in the fifth. On top of that, Lessman tossed a perfect fifth while Kade Grundy (1.1 IP, 1 BB, 1 H, 2 ER) did the same in the sixth.
Things got interesting in the bottom of the sixth, as Louisville took a big chunk out of their deficit with a quartet of runs. Alicea struck again with a two-run double, while Humphrey and Zion Rose (1-3, RBI, BB) each collected RBI groundouts.
However, Clemson immediately pushed the game back into run-rule territory with a four-run seventh inning. Grundy gave up a sacrifice fly, then after Kayden Campbell (0.0 IP, 1 K, 2 H, 2 ER) was inserted, he surrendered an RBI double and a two-run homer.
Carson Liggett (0.2 IP) got the final two outs of the seventh, but Louisville was unable to scratch across a run in the bottom of the frame to stave off the run-rule.
Next up for Louisville, they’ll take on Northern Kentucky in a midweek matchup. First pitch is slated for Tuesday, Apr. 30 at 6:00 pm EST, and will be televised on the ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.
(Photo of Zion Rose: Jared Anderson – Louisville Report)
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