Louisville Drops Extra Innings Series Opener at Wake Forest

The Cardinals forced extras, only to give it away in the 10th to the Demon Deacons.

Louisville baseball players vs. Miami in game two of the 2025 Louisville Super Regional. | Jared Anderson - Louisville Cardinals On SI

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A wild Thursday night contest ended in a 9-8 loss in 10 innings for the University of Louisville baseball team at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Louisville (26-20, 10-12 ACC) had won four consecutive games in ACC play before the loss on Thursday night.

Wake Forest (30-17, 12-13) jumped out early in the series opener, scoring a pair of runs in each of the first two innings.

The Cardinals plated their first run of the night on a passed ball with the bases loaded in the third, but the Demon Deacons answered back with a run in their half of the frame to push the margin back to four.

Louisville’s offense came to life in the fourth though. With the bases loaded, Zion Rose lined a single into right field that drove in two and cut the deficit in half.

Tague Davis then hit the very next pitch over the wall in right field to put the Cardinals in front. The homer was the 27th of the season for Davis, adding to his single-season program record.

The lead very quickly disappeared, however. Wake Forest had the first five batters of the fourth reach, three of which scored to give the Deacons the lead back.

From there, the scoring slowed as the Cardinals relievers worked five consecutive scoreless innings.

Meanwhile, Louisville took advantage of an error on the infield in the sixth for a run to get within one but still trailed by a run heading to the ninth.

With one away in the ninth, Ben Slanker singled into right and a misplay in the outfield allowed him to reach second. George Baker followed with a single into left, and a wild throw home allowed pinch-runner Kyle Campbell to score the tying run.

Wake Forest got the potential winning run to third in the bottom half of the inning, but Aaron England got a strikeout to send the game to extra innings.

The Cardinals went in order in the top of the 10th, setting up the Deacons for the walk-off in the bottom. A one-out walk was followed by a single to put runners on the corners. A chopper to short against a drawn-in infield then got through allowing the winning run to touch the plate.

Rose, Davis, Slanker and Baker each had two hits, combining for eight of Louisville’s nine in the game.

Jack Brown, Ty Starke, Zane Stahl and England turned in scoreless outings out of the bullpen.

Louisville and Wake Forest take the field again on Friday with first pitch set for 6 p.m. ET.

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(Photo of Louisville Players: Jared Anderson - Louisville Cardinals On SI)