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No. 8 Louisville's 13-Game Winning Streak Halted at No. 17 Ole Miss
March 13, 2010
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 8 Louisville baseball team had its season-opening 13-game winning streak halted on Saturday afternoon in an 8-3 road loss to No. 17 Ole Miss at Oxford-University Stadium. With the weekend series tied at 1-1, Sunday's decisive third game between the Cardinals (13-1) and Rebels (12-3) is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET. Play-by-play of Sunday's series finale can be heard on KOOL 1570 AM or online through CardsTV at www.UofLSports.com. Freshman Kyle Grieshaber (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette HS) led the way for Louisville at the plate with a career best 4-for-5 performance with one RBI and one run scored, while senior Adam Duvall (Louisville, Ky./Butler HS) added two hits and an RBI for the Cardinals in the loss. The loss ended the second best start in school history for Louisville, two games shy of the 1957 Cardinals' 15 straight wins. The Rebels opened the scoring in the first inning with two runs on one hit off Louisville lefty starter Dean Kiekhefer (Louisville, Ky./Oldham County HS). The inning started with a leadoff walk to second baseman Alex Yarbrough, who then moved to third on a double down the right field by left fielder Taylor Hashman. Ole Miss' first run came as Yarbrough scored on an RBI sacrifice fly to right by centerfielder Tim Ferguson. The Rebels then made it 2-0 on an RBI groundout to the right side by first baseman Matt Smith. Ole Miss added to its lead an inning later with four more runs on four hits for a commanding 6-0 advantage after two innings. The scoring started for the Rebels with an RBI single to right center by shortstop Kevin Mort to score Mike Snyder and continued with an RBI single to right field by Yarbrough to score Taylor Hightower. The fifth run of the game came as Mort scored on an RBI groundout by Ferguson, while the final run of the inning scored on an RBI single to center by Smith.
The Cardinals broke through against Ole Miss starter Aaron Barrett with one run on two hits in the fourth to cut the deficit to 6-1. Junior Phil Wunderlich (Chicago, Ill./Downers Grove HS) led off the inning with a single up the middle and scored moments later on an RBI double down the left field line by senior Jeff Arnold (Louisville, Ky./Male HS). The Rebels pushed their advantage back to six in the fifth inning with one run and a pair of hits off Cards' righty reliever Justin Amlung (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier HS). Miller led off the inning with a double to right center, moved to third on a deep fly ball to left by David Phillips and then scored on an RBI sacrifice fly to center by Miles Hamblin for a 7-1 lead. Louisville cut the lead to 7-3 in the seventh with two runs on three hits, all with two outs. Following a pair of strikeouts to start the inning, junior outfielder Drew Haynes (New Albany, Ind./New Albany HS) reached base with a single up the middle off Barrett. Grieshaber followed with an RBI double down the right field line to score Haynes for the first run of the inning. Moments later Grieshaber scored on an RBI single to left by Duvall to pull to within four. The Rebels added a final run in the bottom of the seventh on a bizarre play where, with Miller on first, Phillips hit a ball to straight away center, which narrowly cleared the glove of a jumping Haynes to leave the ballpark. However, before the umpires ruled it a home run, Phillips rounded first base before leaving the playing field assuming the ball was caught. With the home run call, Miller was allowed to come around and score from first, while Phillips was credited with a single and then called out for leaving the base line. Barrett earned the win for the Rebels allowing three runs on six hits with nine strikeouts in 6.2 innings to improve to 4-0, while Kiekhefer took the loss after giving up six runs on five hits in 2.0 innings to fall to 1-1 on the season. Out of the bullpen, Amlung allowed only one run on four hits in 4.0 innings, freshman righty Curtis McCombs (Louisville, Ky./Ballard HS) allowed one run on two hits in 1.0 inning in his first career appearance, while senior righty Matt Lea (Collierville, Tenn./Houston HS) pitched one scoreless inning for the Cardinals. Louisville Notes - With the 0-for-2 performance at the plate on Saturday, Stewart Ijames ended his eight-game hitting streak, which matched a career best for the redshirt sophomore outfielder. - Freshman Kyle Grieshaber entered the weekend with five career hits and has doubled that total during the first two games against the Rebels. The Chesterfield, Mo., native had his first multi-hit game on Friday going 2-for-6, while Saturday's 4-for-5 afternoon equals the most hits in a game for a Louisville player this season. He joins Drew Haynes, Stewart Ijames and Adam Duvall, who all have four-hit games in 2010. |
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