Louisville Defeats Bucknell to Clinch Season-Opening Series

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
BU	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	6	0
UL	1	0	4	3	0	0	2	1	X	11	10	2

W: Will Koger (1-0), L: Chris DiFiore (0-1)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Continuing their season-opening weekend series against Bucknell, the Louisville baseball program followed up their Opening Day victory with an equally as impressive performance in game two, coming out on top 11-2 Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium to clinch the series.

With the victory, the Cardinals have now won 33 consecutive regular season home non-conference three-game series. Louisville has not lost such a series since Mar. 18-20, 2011 against Xavier.

Louisville got most of their offensive production from the top half of their batting order. Christian Knapczyk (2-3, BB, HBP) and Eddie King Jr. (2-3, 2 RBI, BB) had multi-hit games; Knapcyzk, Isaac Humphrey (1-2, RBI, 2 BB, HBP) and Jack Payton (1-2, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, HBP) each reached base four times; and King, Payton and Ryan McCoy (1-4, 2 RBI) had two-RBI outings.

The Cardinal struck first with a bases loaded walk drawn by King in the opening frame, then compounded on their lead with a third inning four-spot. McCoy struck a two RBI single, King collected another RBI on a single, then McCoy scored on a stolen base attempt by King.

While starting pitcher Riley Phillips (3.1 IP, 4 K, 4 BB, 3 H, 1 ER) minimized the amount of runs that Bucknell plated, he struggled with his command at times. He allowed to bases to get loaded in both the third and fourth innings, with the latter coming with no outs for an early hook.

Fortunately, Will Koger (2.2 IP, 3 K, 2 BB) was dialed in as the first reliever out of the bullpen. Bucknell was only able to scratch across one run in the fourth after loading the bases, and Koger allowed just one runner to reach base in the fifth and sixth innings.

Back at the plate, Louisville responded to Bucknell's fourth inning run with a three-spot in the bottom of the frame. Humphrey's RBI single made it back-to-back days with RBI base hits, then Payton sent him home with a two-run, 426-foot homer.

The Bisons got a run back in the seventh off of reliever Kayden Campbell (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER), which was neutralized by Louisville with three more runs. Noah Smith (0-1, RBI) collected an RBI grounder and JT Benson (1-5, RBI) scored on a wild pitch in the seventh, then Benson added an RBI single in the eighth.

Tucker Biven (1.0 IP, 2 K, 1 BB, 1H) and Kaleb Corbett (1.0 IP, 1 K, 3 BB) were tasked with pitching the eighth and ninth inning, respectively, combining for two scoreless relief innings to shut the door on the Bisons.

Next up for Louisville, they'll go for the sweep over Bucknell and conclude their opening weekend with game three against the Bisons. First pitch is slated for Sunday, Feb. 19 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 970 WGTK.

(Photo of Logan Beard: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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