Louisville Shuts Out Vanderbilt in Battle of the Barrel

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W: Riley Phillips (4-1), L: Devin Futrell (8-1), S: Michael Prosecky (9)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Making their first trip to Nashville since 2018, the Louisville baseball program came out victorious in their annual Battle of the Barrel rivalry matchup against Vanderbilt, winning in shutout fashion 1-0 Tuesday at Hawkins Field.

The No. 10 Cardinals (32-12, 14-7 ACC) built on their recent good fortunes down in the Music City, winning their fifth-straight road game against the Commodores (29-14, 10-11 SEC). Louisville also extends their win streak to six in a row, and snaps Vanderbilt's 28-game midweek contest winning streak

Entering the game with a 5.50 team ERA, Louisville had a tremendous day from the pitching mound. The Cardinals' arms took a combined no-hitter to the sixth inning, tossed 14 strikeouts, held Vanderbilt to a season-low in hits with two and handed them only their second shutout loss of the year.

Carter Lohman (2.0 IP, 3 K, 3 BB) earned his first start of the year, and was able to pitch out of a second inning bases loaded jam. Riley Phillips (2.0 IP, 4 K) and Carson Liggitt (1.0 IP, 2 K) both retired every batter they faced, before Tate Kuehner (1.0 IP, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 H) surrendered the hit that broke up the combined no-hitter.

Kuehner was able to rebound a bases loaded jam himself, with Kyle Walter (1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 BB) Ryan Hawks (1.0 IP, 1 K) and Michael Prosecky (1.0 IP, 1 H) closing out the game.

Louisville's typically potent offense, which had been averaging a D1-second-best 9.7 runs per game on the season, had a quiet day at the plate. Ben Bianco (2-4, HR, RBI) wound up producing the only run of the entire game, launching a 401-foot solo home run to left field in the fifth inning.

Bianco, Christian Knapczyk (0-2, 2 BB), Dalton Rushing (1-3, HBP) and Logan Beard (2-3, 2 2B, HBP) were the only Cardinals hitters to reach base multiple times. Jack Payton (1-4, 2B) and Levi Usher (1-4) also had base hits.

Next up for Louisville, they'll stay on the road and head to Winston-Salem for a weekend series at Wake Forest. First pitch of game one is slated for Friday, May 6 at 6:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

(Photo via Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)

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