Napleton, Gongora Power Louisville Past Virginia Tech in ACC Opener
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
UL | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | x | 9 |
W: Sebastian Gongora (3-0), L: Brett Renfrow (4-1), S: Kayden Campbell (1)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hosting Virginia Tech for a three-game weekend series to kick off Atlantic Coast Conference play, the Louisville baseball program got the series started off on the right foot, winning 9-6 in the opener on Friday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Cardinals (13-5, 1-0 ACC) move to a perfect 10-0 in ACC openers since joining the conference, and hand the Hokies (12-4, 3-1 ACC) their first loss in conference play this season. Louisville has won 13 of their last 14 games since opening the season at 0-4.
At the plate, Louisville was powered primarily by an explosive day from Quincy (D2) transfer Luke Napleton (3-3, 3 HR, 5 RBI, BB), who launched a trio of home runs and drove in five of the Cardinals' eight RBI. The 2023 D2 leader in home runs became the first Card to hit three homers in a game since Alex Binelas did so on May 25, 2021 vs. Clemson in the ACC Tournament.
Isaac Humphrey (2-4, BB), Lucas Moore (2-5, 2B) and Zion Rose (2-3, RBI, 2B, BB) also had multi-hit evenings for Louisville.
Napleton's hot day at the plate was backed up by another good start on the mound from Sebastian Gongora (6.1 IP, 8 K, 1 BB, 6 H, 2 ER). The Wright State transfer posted his longest outing of the year, his third quality start of the season, and struck out his second-most batters as a Card.
Louisville got their scoring efforts started with a trio of runs in the second inning. Napleton smashed a 346-foot leadoff home run down the right field line, Rose collected an RBI single, then Ryan McCoy (0-3, BB) scampered home on a fielding error by Virginia Tech.
Gongora did allow a leadoff home run in the fourth to break the shutout, but the bats gave him some insurance runs to work with in the middle innings. Napleton blasted a 416-foot solo home run to the berm in the fifth, then in the sixth, he tallied a sacrifice fly while Rose came home on another Hokies error.
As it would turn out in the seventh, those would be some needed insurance runs. VT would bring home one run on a misplayed ball in the outfield, then another on a wild pitch. Fortunately for UofL, Tucker Biven (0.1 IP, 1 H) and Riley Phillips (2.0 IP, 2 K, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 ER) would split the rest of the frame and not allow anymore runs in the inning.
Phillips ran into some trouble in the eighth, loading the bases with no outs to allow the go-ahead run to get to the plate, However, he would bounce back and retire the next three batters to strand the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the frame, Louisville put up another three spot after Brandon Anderson (1-4, RBI, 2B, BB) tallied an RBI double, then Napleton capped off his home run hat trick with a 374-foot, two-run blast to the left field berm. Virginia Tech made things interesting after hitting a two-out, three-run home run off of Phillips in the ninth, but Kayden Campbell (0.1 IP) was able to secure the final out to clinch the save and series-opening win.
Next up for Louisville, they'll attempt to clinch the series against Virginia Tech in game two. First pitch is slated for Saturday, Mar. 16 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.
(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)
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