On a blustery and cold day at the ballpark, the #8 Louisville Cardinals (9-3) came out on top against the Morehead State Eagles (9-2) in a high scoring 10-9 affair where defense and pitching took a backseat for the midweek game. Both teams combined for 19 runs on 19 hits and 5 errors, with a combined 13 pitchers seeing action and only 11 runs being earned. Offensively speaking it was a fun game to watch, as both teams scored in bunches. Out of the 9 half innings that saw scoring, only 3 saw one run scored. Over the course of the 3 hour, 36 minute game, the lead changed a total of 6 times.

It was staff day on the mound for the Cardinals, as Coach Mac wanted to get reps for a lot of the pitching staff before conference play starts, on top of the fact that not many of the pitchers Louisville had to offer could keep the Eagles at bay for long. Freshman Carter Lohman got the starting nod, with junior Luke Smith, junior Shay Smiddy, freshman Jared Poland, sophomore Michael Kirian and sophomore Bobby Miller all seeing game action.

Poland had the best outing with his with 3 strikeouts over 3.0 scoreless innings, and Miller earning his second save of the season. While Lohman only had 2 strikeouts in his 2.0 inning start, it did technically set a new career high for him as he only had 1 strikeout in his one other outing in his young collegiate career. Therefore, this made for the fourth game in a row for Louisville that the starting pitcher set a new career high in strikeouts.

The Cardinal Nine certainly had a busy day at the plate and were productive against all 7 Morehead State pitchers they faced. 7 of the 9 starting position players tallied base hits, and 8 separate players all stole a base. The 9 stolen bases on the was the most in a single game for Louisville since they also stole 10 against Eastern Kentucky on February 20th, 2013.

Sophomore Lucas Dunn and outfielder Drew Campbell had the best days offensively, as the duo collected over half of Louisville hits with 3 a piece. Dunn’s 3 hits set a new season high, while Campbell’s 3 hits and 2 stolen bases set a new career high. Preseason All-American Logan Wyatt also drew his 20th walk of the season, which is second in the nation behind only Texas’ Duke Ellis with 23.

Up next, Louisville will begin conference play in a three game home weekend series against Boston College (7-4). Game 1 is set for Friday at 6:00pm and is the first paid admission game of the season, with tickets starting at $5.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
MSU 0 2 0 3 3 0 0 0 1 9 8 2
UofL 1 0 2 4 0 2 1 0 X 10 11 3

W: Jared Poland (2-0), L: John Bakke (0-1), S: Bobby Miller (2)

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Matt McGavic

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