Louisville Falls to North Carolina in Series Opener

The Cardinals have now lost three of their last four games.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
#20 UNC	5	1	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	13	17	1
#4 UL	0	0	4	0	1	0	0	4	0	9	11	1

W: Tate Kuehner (4-2), L: Kyle Mott (6-1)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Returning home after their longest road trip of the season, the Louisville baseball program didn't have the smoothest of starts to their weekend series against North Carolina, falling 13-9 Friday in the series opener at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The Cardinals (21-8, 7-3 ACC) now find themselves in a bit of a midseason skid, dropping three of their last four including a series loss at Pitt last weekend. Louisville had previously won 17 of their last 19 after starting 3-3.

The Tar Heels (21-9, 7-6 ACC) put their foot on the gas to start the game, allowing them to coast to the finish line. UNC scored all 13 of their runs in the first five innings, including a five spot in the opening frame and three runs in both the third and fourth innings.

Starting pitcher Tate Kuehner (2.0 IP, 0 K, 2 BB, 6 H, 6 ER) had his shortest outing of the season, and also allowed the most earned runs in a single appearance in his three-year career. Cam Robinson (1.1 IP, 1 K, 1 BB, 6 H, 4 ER) had an equally rough relief outing as the first pitcher out of the bullpen.

Carson Liggitt (1.2 IP, 1 BB, 1 H, 1 ER) was the final reliever to give up an earned run on the night, but Louisville got scoreless outings out of each of their four subsequent pitchers to enter: Ben Wiegman (1.0 IP, 1 H), Adam Dowler (1.0 IP, 2 K, 1 BB, 1 H), Will Koger (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 H) and Jacob Ferris (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 H).

Louisville finally broke the scoreboard in the third inning, when Ben Bianco (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) launched a solo home run and Cam Masterman (2-5, HR, 4 RBI) followed that up with a three-run blast. Masterman also had an RBI single in the fifth.

They did make things interesting late, mounting a rally attempt to make the blowout into a respectable loss by plating four runs in the eighth. Dalton Rushing (1-4, HR, RBI, BB) and Jack Payton (1-5, HR, RBI) launched back-to-back home runs, Bianco collected an RBI single, then Ben Metzinger (0-4, RBI, BB) drove in a run on a groundout.

Next up for Louisville, they'll continue their weekend series against North Carolina with game two. First pitch is slated for Saturday, Apr. 9 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

(Photo via Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)

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