Louisville Mounts Late Rally vs. Michigan to Clinch NCAA Regional
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UM | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 12 | 1 |
UL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | X | 11 | 11 | 1 |
W: Tate Kuehner (7-3), L: Cameron Weston (5-4), S: Michael Prosecky (11)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Squaring off against Michigan in their winner-take-all regional finale, the Louisville baseball program was able to mount an electric late inning rally, capturing an 11-9 victory Monday at Jim Patterson Stadium to keep their postseason run alive.
Trailing by two runs with two outs in bottom of the eighth, Dalton Rushing (1-4, 1 BB) drew a walk and Jack Payton (1-5, 2B) hit a double to give the Cardinals life. Payton was initially called safe, and a controversial replay upheld the ruling.
Levi Usher (4-5, 4 RBI, 2 2B) then immediately hit a two-run single to center field that tied the game, and Cam Masterman (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) followed that up with a towering go-ahead two-run blast to the left field berm.
The Cardinals (42-19-1) clinch their ninth trip to the Super Regionals in program history, and seventh consecutive when hosting a regional. They'll head to the Lone Star State this weekend for a best-of-three showdown with Texas A&M. The full schedule for the College Station Super Regional will be announced later this week.
Unlike on Friday against SEMO, Louisville starter Garrett Schmeltz (3.0 IP, 4 K, 1 BB, 4 H, 3 ER) had a bit of a rocky outing. He was lucky to only give up two runs in the first after allowing the first four runners to reach base, while also allowing a solo homer in the third.
Fortunately for him, the Louisville offense had a white-hot start out of the gate, plating seven runs in the opening frame. Usher smacked a two-run RBI double, Masterman, Logan Beard (1-4, RBI) and Christian Knapzyk (2-4, RBI, BB) collected RBI singles, Ben Metzinger (0-2, RBI, 3 BB) drew a bases loaded walk and a fielding error brought home a run.
After a 93-minute rain delay in the bottom of the third, all of the momentum swung in Michigan's favor. They plated four runs on two homers off of Ryan Hawks (2.0 IP, 3 K, 4 H, 4 ER) in the fifth to tie the game, then hit a two-run blast off of Alex Galvan (0.2 IP, 1 K, 2 H, 2 ER) in the sixth to jump in front.
Fortunately for Louisville, they were able to get crucial pitching when it counted the most. Tate Kuehner (2.1 IP, 1 K, 1 H) and Michael Prosecky (1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 H) combined for over three scoreless innings down the stretch, allowing the offense to mount the comeback.
(Photo of Cam Masterman: Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)
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