Louisville Splits Doubleheader at Wake Forest
Press Release from the University of Louisville:
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – With weather wreaking havoc on the start of the weekend, the University of Louisville baseball team split a doubleheader at Wake Forest on Saturday.
Louisville (33-13, 15-8 ACC) lost the opening game 14-3 in a contest that featured two different weather delays, the second of which lasted more than four hours. The Cardinals responded well in the nightcap, turning in a 6-2 victory to set up a rubber game on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
UofL fell behind early in Saturday's opener, giving up three runs in the second inning. The Cards got run-scoring hits from Christian Knapczyk and Jack Payton in the third to make it a one-run game, but Wake Forest scored the next 11 runs to secure a win in game one.
Wake Forest (33-14, 11-12) once again took the first lead of the game in the second inning of the nightcap as well, scoring a run on a wild pitch.
Louisville answered back with solo homers in each of the next two frames, the first from Ben Bianco in the third and then Dalton Rushing tucked one inside the foul pole in the fourth. JT Benson tacked on a second run in the fourth with a RBI single to stretch the lead to two.
The Demon Deacons got one of the runs back in the fourth with consecutive doubles, but Ryan Hawks would strike out the next three batters to strand the tying run in scoring position.
Benson helped the Cardinals respond in the fifth, singling on the infield with the bases loaded to push the margin back out to two.
Hawks struck out two more in the fifth and then turned the ball over to Tate Kuehner for the sixth. Kuehner would carry the Cards the rest of the way, stranding a pair of runners in the sixth before retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced over the final three innings.
Meanwhile, Louisville added two more insurance runs in the eighth with a groundout from Ben Metzinger and a single into left-center from Jack Payton to double the advantage.
Hawks (5-1) got the win with one run allowed in 2.1 innings out of the bullpen. Kuehner earned his first save of the year with four shutout innings to finish the game.
Benson was 3-for-5 at the plate in the nightcap after doubling in a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth inning of game one.
(Photo of Logan Beard: Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)
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