Louisville Outlasts Eastern Kentucky in Midweek Contest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Fresh off of their trip to Arlington, Texas this past weekend, the Louisville baseball program returned home to Jim Patterson Stadium to kick off a 14-game home stand, and were able to get it started with a 6-5 midweek win over in-state foe Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday.

The Cardinals (4-4) move to 24-2 against the Colonels (2-6 ASUN) in Dan McDonnell's 20 seasons as the head coach, and have won five straight in the all-time series. McDonnell is now three wins away from 800 career victories.

Louisville wasn't nearly as productive at the plate as expected considering the competition faced, collecting eight base hits and 14 total baserunners on the day. Catcher Jimmy Nugent (3-4, 3 RBI, 2B) and DH Jax Hisle (2-3, 2 RBI, 2B, BB) both had multi-hit days and drove in multiple runs, while outfielder Griffin Crain (2-3) had a multi-hit performance and first baseman Tague Davis (1-3, HR, RBI) also drove in a run on his fourth homer of the season.

Additionally, the Cardinals' collective efforts on the mound weren't as sharp as they could have been. Eastern Kentucky out-hit their hosts with nine base hits, and had nearly as many walks (7) and they did strikeout (8)

Uofl was the first to get on the scoreboard, with Davis launching a mammoth 409-foot solo blast in the opening inning. Then over the next two innings, both them and EKU put up two-spots in each frame. On the Louisville side, Nugent poked a two-run single through the infield in the second, then Hisle laced a go-ahead two-RBI double in the third.

Peter Michael (2.1 IP, 3K, 3 BB, 5 H, 4 ER) got his second midweek start of the season, and like his first, he was a little bit shaky. The right-hander gave up and RBI double and single in the second, then another RBI single in third before getting pulled. Fellow righty Jake Schweitzer (1.1 IP, 1 K, 1 H) took over, and even he gave up an RBI fielder's choice groundout.

After plating five runs in the first three innings, Louisville's offense then went cold. They posted just five base hits in the fourth through eighth innings, with their lone run during this time being a Nugent RBI double in the sixth.

Fortunately, for the rest of the afternoon, Louisville's bullpen took on a bend-but-don't-break approach, giving up just a single run in the final six innings. Schweitzer and left-hander Ty Starke (1.0 IP, 1 K) went on to split a scoreless fourth, then he and fellow lefty Colton Hartman (1.2 IP, 2 K, 2 BB, 3 H, 1 ER) did so in the fifth.

Hartman would go on to twirl a perfect sixth, but then allowed a sac fly in the seventh, making way for Jack Brown (1.2 IP, 1 BB) to take over. The right-hander got the Cardinals out of that inning and put up a scoreless eighth as well, then southpaw Aaron England (1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 BB) shut the door in the ninth for the save.

Next up for Louisville, they'll continue their 14-game home stand with a three-game series against Central Michigan this weekend.vFirst pitch of game one is slated for Friday, Feb. 27 at 3:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 970 WGTX.

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