|
No. 8 Baseball Completes Weekend Sweep of Le Moyne with 12-1 Win
March 7, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The eighth-ranked Louisville baseball team remained unbeaten on the season and closed out another weekend sweep with a dominating 12-1 win over Le Moyne in front of a season-high crowd of 2,071 on Sunday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium. With the win, the Cardinals continued the program's best start since 1957 (15-0), while the 11-game winning streak is the longest in head coach Dan McDonnell's four seasons surpassing the 10 straight wins for the 2008 Cardinals. Louisville also extended its regular-season home winning streak at Jim Patterson Stadium to 13 games. Sophomore righty Derek Self (Cave City, Ky./Caverna HS) led the way for the Cardinals' pitching staff scattering four hits with a career-high five strikeouts in 5.0 scoreless innings to improve to 2-0 on the season and 9-0 in his career. Sophomore righty Tony Zych (Monee, Ill./St. Rita HS) came out of the Louisville bullpen to pitch 3.0 scoreless innings of relief allowing only one hit with two strikeouts, while junior lefty Bob Revesz (Grove City, Pa./Grove City HS) allowed only an unearned run in the ninth inning to finish the game. "Derek threw very well today and did a nice job of keeping them off the bases," McDonnell said. "We didn't help him defensively, but he was able to pitch out of some jams. You tip your hat to Derek for the quality start and he gives us another starter. Tony (Zych) had started the last two Sundays and Derek got an opportunity today, so it's nice to know we have another starter who can run out there and get us going in the right direction." Through 11 games, the Louisville pitching staff has a team ERA of just 2.14 with 90 strikeouts and only 23 walks in 101.0 innings, while the Cards' bullpen has been even better allowing only four earned runs in 51.0 innings for an ERA of 0.71. At the plate, junior Phil Wunderlich (Chicago, Ill./Downers Grove HS) led the way going 2-for-3, including his team-leading fourth home run of the season, with two RBI and three runs scored. Sophomore Ryan Wright (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead HS) was 2-for-3 with his second home run of 2010 and three runs scored, while redshirt sophomore Stewart Ijames (Owensboro, Ky./Owensboro Catholic HS) was 2-for-3 with two RBI. After two scoreless innings to open the game, Louisville started the scoring in the third with four runs on two hits all with two outs off Le Moyne starter Jerome Werniuk, who took the loss for the Dolphins (4-5) to drop to 1-2 overall. Freshman Kyle Grieshaber (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette HS) started the rally after being hit by a pitch to reach base and then scored the first run after three straight walks to senior Adam Duvall (Louisville, Ky./Butler HS), Wright and Wunderlich. Senior Jeff Arnold (Louisville, Ky./Male HS) then connected for a two-run single through the left side to score Duvall and Wright, while Ijames made it 4-0 Cardinals with an RBI single to right to score Wunderlich. Following a scoreless fourth inning, the Cardinals continued their onslaught with five runs on three hits in the fifth. Ijames started the scoring an RBI sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Wright, who led off the inning with a double to right field off Dolphins reliever Mark Kuzma. Freshman third baseman Cade Stallings (Knoxville, Tenn./Farragut HS) followed with a two-run single to right to score Wunderlich and Arnold for a 7-0 lead. Grieshaber closed the scoring in the inning with a two-run double down the left field line to score Stallings and junior Drew Haynes (New Albany, Ind./New Albany HS). Louisville added two more runs in the sixth as Wright and Wunderlich hammered back-to-back solo home runs off Le Moyne righty Casey Cannon to push the advantage to 11-0. It the was the first back-to-back home runs for Louisville since Chris Dominguez and Wunderlich accomplished the feat on May 23, 2009 against Notre Dame. The Cards added a 12th run in the eighth inning as senior Justin Haywood (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory HS) earned his first career hit, moved to second on a single by junior J.J. Ethel (Phoenix, Ariz./Mountain Pointe HS), advanced to third on a walk to Ijames and then scored his first career run on an RBI single by freshman Zak Wasserman (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore HS). Le Moyne broke through for the unearned run in the ninth inning for the final margin. The Cardinals close their five-game homestand at Jim Patterson Stadium on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET against Big Ten foe Indiana. Last season, Louisville earned three wins over the Hoosiers, including an 8-2 win in the first round of the NCAA Regional. Louisville Notes - Along with Ijames, Ryan Wright and Phil Wunderlich have also hit safely in each of the last six games. Wright is now hitting .372 overall while leading the team with 15 RBI, while Wunderlich is up to .356 with his team-leading four home runs and 13 RBI. - After a slow start through the first couple of weeks, Wunderlich has caught fire lately as the top hitter in the Cards' 4-0 week from March 3-7. The Chicago native hit .563 overall (9-for-16) with two home runs, four extra base hits, five RBI, a slugging percentage of 1.125 and an on-base percentage of .611. He was also 3-for-3 on stolen bases. - Entering the fourth week of the season, Louisville is the only remaining unbeaten team in the BIG EAST Conference.
|
|
