Louisville Walks Off Morehead State on Metzinger Homer

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

W: Kaleb Corbett (2-0), L: John Bakke (1-1)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Continuing on their 18-game home stand to open up the 2022 season, the Louisville baseball program welcomed Morehead State to Jim Patterson Stadium on Tuesday, and greeted them with a 7-5 victory that was secured in walk-off fashion.

Heading up to the plate with two outs in the ninth and down by a run, Ben Metzinger (1-3, HR, 3 RBI, BB) crushed a pitch 350-feet to straightaway left field for a three-run home run to win the game. Jack Payton (1-1) lead off the inning with a pinch hit single, followed by a two-out walk from Christian Knapczyk (1-4, 2B, BB).

The Cardinals (5-3) move to 15-1 against the Eagles (3-6) under head coach Dan McDonnell, with McDonnell now 23-2 vs. head coach Mik Aoki, who previously served as the skipper for Notre Dame.

Louisville was quick to crack the scoreboard, plating four runs in the first two innings. This included a three-spot in the opening frame, in which Dalton Rushing (1-3, RBI, 2B, BB) and Cam Masterman (1-4, RBI, 2B) had RBI doubles, accompanied by and RBI single from Isaac Humphrey (1-2, RBI, 2 BB). Noah Smith (0-3) capped off the scoring spurt by scampering home on a wild pitch in the second.

The Cardinals got a solid start out of right-hander Seamus Barrett (4.1 IP, 7 K, 2 BB, 5 H, 3 ER), tossing four scoreless innings and setting a career-high in strikeouts. But in Morehead State's third time through the order, the Eagles finally caught up to him, launching a three-run home run in the fifth inning to chase him out.

Left hander Adam Dowler (1.2 IP, 2 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 2 ER) was able to pitch out of that jam in the fifth, but then created one himself in the sixth, giving up and groundout RBU and and RBI double to give Morehead State the lead.

During the late stages, Louisville put themselves in position to rally past Morehead State, only to have scoring threats thwarted by great Eagles defense. An insane diving catch by right fielder Chase Vinson in the sixth stranded a pair of Cardinals runners, while a hard lineout to third baseman Nick Gooden in the seventh lead to a Louisville runner on third getting picked off.

Right-handers Cam Robinson (1.1 IP, 3 K, 0 BB, 3 H) and Kaleb Corbett (1.0 IP, 2 K, 0 BB, 0 H), as well as left-hander Garrett Schmeltz (0.2 IP, 1 K, 0 BB, 0 H) combined to pitch the final three inning, keeping the Eagles off the board to give the Cardinals a chance to rally.

Next up for Louisville, they'll kick off their three-game weekend series against Akron. First pitch is slated for Friday, Mar. 4 at 3:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 970 WGTK.

(Photo of Will Koger: Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)

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