Louisville Dominates Dartmouth in Series Opener

The Cardinals put up a season-high 19 runs, including 12 unanswered to open the game.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
DU	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	5	5	2
UL	1	2	3	2	2	2	1	6	X	19	15	2

W: Tate Kuehner (1-0), L: Justin Murray (0-1)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kicking off their first home weekend series of the 2022 season, the Louisville baseball program took advantage of hot bats and a good pitching start, capturing a 19-5 victory in their series opener against Dartmouth Friday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The Big Green (0-1) had no early answers for the Cardinals' (3-2) pitchers or hitters, but it was hard to blame them. After COVID cancelled the majority of the 2020 season and the Ivy League cancelled last year, Dartmouth was playing their first competitive baseball in 726 days.

Louisville had a field day at the plate, putting up a season-high in both hits and runs, and scoring in every inning of the game for the first time under head coach Dan McDonnell. The Cardinals came firing out of the gates, going on a 12-0 run over the first six innings, with their 19 runs the most since plating 32 against Alabama A&M on Apr. 26, 2019.

Levi Usher (2-3, 3 RBI, 3B, BB), Cam Masterman (1-4, HR, 2 RBI), Dalton Rushing (1-1, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB) and Logan Beard (1-3, 2 RBI, 2B) and Ben Bianco (1-2, 3 RBI, 3B) all drove in multiple runs on the afternoon; while Usher, Christian Knapczyk (3-4, RBI, BB), Ben Metzinger (2-5, BB) and Jack Payton (2-3, RBI, 2B) had multi-hit days.

Left-hander Tate Kuehner (5.0 IP, 5 K, 1 BB, 2 H, 0 ER) earned the series-opening start on the mound, and had a much better outing than the one he had in the season-opener. He might not have racked up the strikeout numbers, but Dartmouth only got five runners on base during his time on the mound.

Right-hander Kade Grundy (1.0 IP, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 H, 0 ER) pitched a scoreless sixth, then Dartmouth finally made some noise in the seventh. The Big Green teed off on left-hander Carter Lohman (0.2 IP, 1 K, 4 BB, 1 H, 5 ER) in the frame for a five-spot, with fellow lefty Evan Webster (1.1 IP, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 H, 0 ER) having to come in to stop the bleeding.

Fortunately, the Cardinals wasted no time squashing any hope of a miracle comeback by Dartmouth. They followed that up with seven more runs in their final two innings at bat, including a six-spot in the eighth, and two more scoreless frames from Webster and righty Alex Galvan (1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 H).

Next up for Louisville, they'll continue their weekend series against Dartmouth with game two. First pitch is slated for Saturday, Feb. 26 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

(Photo of Lucas Dunn: William Caudill via University of Louisville Athletics)

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