Louisville Stumbles in Series Opener at Clemson

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

W: Ethan Darden (4-2), L: Ryan Hawks (5-3)

CLEMSON, S.C - Traveling down south to kick off a three-game series at Clemson, the Louisville baseball program could not build momentum from their demolition of Bellarmine earlier in the week, falling 6-3 Friday in the series opener at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The top-25 weekend tilt between the No. 22 Cardinals (28-16, 9-13 ACC) and No. 18 Tigers (29-17, 12-10 ACC) has potentially big postseason ramifications for both squads. Louisville is looking to kick a nearly month-long slump and avoid a potential slide out of the NCAA Tournament, whereas Clemson is hoping to build on a hot month of April to put themselves in the conversation for hosting a regional.

With the loss, Louisville has now dropped eight of their last 10 games in ACC play, as well as nine of their last 13 overall. The Cardinals also fall to 2-6 in game ones of ACC series this season, and 0-4 on the road.

At the plate, the Cardinals struggled to both generate opportunities and capitalize on them when they arose. Their four hits on the afternoon tied their season low, and they went 2-for-12 with runners on base. Pitching even had an untimely middle inning collapse, surrendering five unanswered runs after UofL had gone up 3-1 in the sixth.

Louisville struck first in the series, with J.T. Benson (1-4, RBI, 2B) collecting an RBI double in the third inning. Clemson responded by taking advantage of a throwing error in the fourth to scratch across the tying run, to which Eddie King Jr. (1-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB) countered with a two-run home run in the sixth.

For the second start in a row, Ryan Hawks (5.0 IP, 2 K, 2 BB, 10 H, 2 ER) struggled a touch to throw quality strikes. He tied his season low in strikeouts, allowed a career-high in base hits, with a game-tying, two-run blast in the sixth leading to an early exit.

Kade Grundy (0.1 IP) and Kayden Campbell (0.2 IP, 1 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 3 ER) helped Louisville get out of the sixth without giving up any more runs, but then the latter ran into some real trouble in the seventh. He allowed the first five batters of the frame to reach base, with Clemson scoring on both a walk and hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded.

Inheriting a bases loaded jam with no outs, Kaleb Corbett (1.1 IP, 1 K, 2 H) prevented a knockout blow by the Tigers, only allowing a sacrifice fly under his watch. He and Greg Farone (0.2 IP, 2 K, 1 BB) combined to pitch a scoreless eighth, but Louisville was unable to generate any late inning offense behind them.

Next up for Louisville, they'll try and clinch their series against Clemson in game two. First pitch is slated for Saturday, May 6 at 2:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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