Offense Powers Louisville Past Bellarmine

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
BU	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	5	5	5
UL	2	0	1	3	1	0	0	4	X	11	8	1

W: Luke Seed (1-0), L: Drew Buhr (0-2), S: Michael Prosecky (5)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Taking on Bellarmine for their final game before the start of conference play this weekend, the Louisville baseball program added their second midweek victory of the week, winning 11-5 Wednesday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Louisville (13-4) struck first with a pair of runs in the opening frame. A sacrifice bunt and a throwing error from Bellarmine (2-15) plated the first run, with Jack Payton (2-4, RBI, 2B, BB) adding an RBI on a groundout. Dalton Rushing (2-4, 2 RBI, 2b BB) also added an RBI double in the third for the first three runs of the game.

Luke Seed (4.0 IP, 5 K, 3 BB, 2 H, 2 ER) made his first pitching start since returning from an injury suffered last season, and looked good in his first time through the batting order. His command dipped a bit in the fourth inning, and the Knights took advantage with a two-run homer to pull within a run.

The Cardinals didn't waste much time responding, posting a three-spot in the bottom of the inning. They brought home another run thanks to a sacrifice bunt and throwing error, a wild pitch scored another, then Cam Masterman (2-3, 3 RBI, 2B) hit a sacrifice fly. Ben Bianco (0-4, RBI, SF) had a sac fly of his own in the fifth to make it a five-run game.

However, Bellarmine wasn't done putting pressure on Louisville. Ben Wiegman (2.0 IP, 2 K, 1 BB) had a scoreless outing as the first reliever out of the bullpen, but then Knights jumped on the Louisville pitching staff after that, putting up three runs in the seventh.

Carson Liggitt (0.0 IP, 2 BB, 2 ER) would get pulled after issuing back-to-back walks, then a throwing error from newly inserted Adam Dowler (1.0 IP, 3 H) followed by a two RBI single from Bellarmine would make it only a two-run game.

Dowler would get yanked after allowing a leadoff double in the eighth, as was Will Koger (0.0 IP, 1 BB) following just a single batter faced. Fortunately, Michael Prosecky (2.0 IP, 2 K) would be the one to put out the fire, tossing back-to-back scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth.

Prosecky wasn't the only person to have a strong ending to the game, as Louisville's bats put up a four-spot in the eighth inning for some much needed insurance. Payton and Masterman both struck RBI doubles, with Rushing putting forth an RBI single.

Next up for Louisville, they'll kick off conference play with a three-game weekend series against No. 1 Notre Dame. First pitch is slated for Friday, Mar. 18 at 7:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on the ACC Network and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

(Photo via Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)

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