Louisville Clinches Weekend Series vs. Dayton

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
UD	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	1
UL	1	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	X	6	6	0

W: Will Koger (2-0), L: Mark Manfredi (0-2)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Continuing on their weekend set against Dayton, the Louisville baseball program was able to secure yet another non-conference series at Jim Patterson Stadium, winning 6-2 Saturday to clinch the series.

With the victory, the No. 4 Cardinals (13-1) have now won 35 consecutive regular season home non-conference three-game series. Louisville has not lost such a series since Mar. 18-20, 2011 against Xavier.

The winning effort was fueled mainly by outfielder J.T. Benson (1-3, HR, 4 RBI) and the pitching duo of starter Greg Farone (4.2 IP, 5 K, 5 BB, 1 H, 2 ER) and reliever Will Koger (4.1 IP, 4 K, 3 BB). Benson hit Louisville's first grand slam of the season, while Farone and Koger combined to throw a one-hitter against the Flyers (3-10).

Like in the series-opener, Dayton struck first via the long ball, launching a two-run home run off of Farone in the opening frame. However, he would rebound and toss three-plus scoreless innings afterwards, and the homer would be the lone base hit that the Flyers would collect off of Farone.

Louisville got a run back in the bottom of the first thanks to a fielding error that allowed Christian Knapczyk (0-2, 2 BB) to score. Two innings later, Benson put the Cardinals ahead in grand fashion, launching a 412-foot homer to left-center and clear the bases.

The Cardinals also got a solo homer in the fourth from Logan Beard (1-4, HR, RBI), but that was all the offense on the day for Louisville. No one collected multiple bases hits, and Knapczyk, Ryan McCoy (1-3, BB), Patrick Forbes (1-2, BB) and Will Vierling (1-2, BB) were the only Cards to get on base multiple times on the day.

Koger took over with two outs in the fifth inning after Farone had to exit due to apparent cramping issues, and continued to keep the Flyers off the scoreboard. While Dayton did manage to draw a combined eight walks in the game, Koger didn't allow them to get a single hit during his career-long relief outing.

Next up for Louisville, they'll go for the sweep over Dayton in their third and final game of the series. First pitch is slated for Sunday, Mar. 12 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 970 WGTK.

(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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