Louisville Blows Another Lead, Drops Game Two vs. Cal to Tie Series

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One day removed from salvaging a blown lead in the opener of their three-game series with Cal, the Louisville baseball program could not come back from another blown lead in game two, falling 14-10 on Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The No. 18 Cardinals (19-7, 4-4 ACC) led 10-7 through five innings, but gave up seven unanswered runs to the Golden Bears (15-11, 6-5 ACC) over the final four frames. Louisville had blown a 9-2 lead in the opener the night before, but was able to squeak out an 11-10 walk-off win.

Louisville falls back to .500 in ACC play, and have now dropped three of their last four with the loss to Cal. The series now heads to the rubber match, with first pitch set for Sunday, Mar. 30 at 12:00 p.m. EST.

The Cardinals' pitching staff was snakebitten by the gopher ball, giving up four home runs, with seven of the Golden Bears' runs coming off of them. Louisville also allowed 15 hits on the afternoon

The loss came despite Louisville launching four home runs of their own, including two from Tague Davis (2-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB) to give him a team-best 10 on the season. Lucas Moore (1-4, HR, RBI) and Zion Rose (2-5, HR, 3 RBI, 2B) also went yard, and eight of the Cardinals' started logged either a base hit or RBI.

Brennyn Cutts (2.0 IP, 3 K, 1 BB, 4 H, 4 ER) made his first start as a Cardinal after spending the first month-plus as a reliever, but he ran into some struggles. He allowed an RBI single and double in the first, then a two-run homer in the second.

Fortunately, Louisville was able to keep pace with Cal in the early innings, and then some. After Moore hit a 364-foot leadoff homer in the first innings, the Cardinals followed that up with a six-spot in the second.

Davis blasted a two-run, 425-foot home run, Eddie King Jr. (1-3, 2B, BB) scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, Rose smacked a two-run double to put UofL in front, then Garret Pike (0-1, RBI, SF) capped off the frame with a sacrifice fly.

A sacrifice fly from Bayram Hot (0-2, RBI, BB, SF) in the third made it seven unanswered runs, but then the Golden Bears took a big chunk out of the Cards' lead in the fourth. While Ethan Eberle (3.0 IP, 1 BB, 4 H, 3 ER) was able to toss a scoreless third, he would then surrender a three-run home run an inning later.

That blast would put Cal within a run, but then Louisville used a pair of their own long balls in the middle innings to pad their lead. Rose smashed a 398-foot homer in the fourth, then Davis hit a ball 422 feet in the fifth for his second of the day.

Eberle rebounded with a scoreless fifth, but the Golden Bears refused to quit. With Jack Brown (1.2 IP, 1 K, 1 BB, 4 H, 3 ER) on the bump for the Cards, they got a run across on a passed ball in the sixth, then made their move in the seventh with a four-spot.

A two-run double would tie the game, an RBI single would put them ahead, then a fielding error by UofL would lead to another run. It took Casen Murphy (2.1 IP, 1 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 2 ER) being inserted to finally stop the bleeding, but after pitching a scoreless eighth, even he would give up two solo shots in the ninth.

Adding insult to injury the Cards' bats went cold down the stretch. Over the final four innings, Louisville generated just two base hits and three base runners overall, and struck out six times.

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