Louisville Falls to Michigan in NCAA Tournament

The Cardinals face Oregon on Sunday with their season on the line.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
UL	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	10	2
UM	0	0	3	2	2	0	0	0	X	7	12	1

W: Noah Rennard (6-2), L: Jared Poland (5-5)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After taking care of business against Southeast Missouri State in their NCAA Tournament opener the day before, the Louisville baseball program took on Michigan in the Louisville Regional's 1-0 vs. 1-0 game, and fell 7-3 Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The top-seeded Cardinals (39-19-1) are now an even 2-2 against the fourth-seeded Wolverines this season, after Louisville took two of three from Michigan back in mid-March during the regular season. Louisville suffers only their second ever loss in the 1-0 vs. 1-0 game at home (7-2), with the first loss coming in 2019.

Louisville ace Jared Poland (4.2 IP, 5 K, 1 BB, 9 H, 6 ER) looked sharp in the first two innings of his start, but his command quickly fell off after that. He surrendered three runs in the third thanks to a pair of home runs, then two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.

Ryan Hawks (2.1 IP, 3 K, 1 BB, 3 H) was able to steady the ship after Poland was pulled in the fifth. Carter Lohman (0.2 IP) and Alex Galvan (0.1 IP, 1 K) also gave Louisville a pair of scoreless outings down the stretch as well.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they couldn't get much going at the plate, going just 4-19 with runners on base, 2-12 with two outs and leaving 12 runners on base.

Their only offense on the day was a second inning RBI groundout from Ben Bianco (0-4, RBI), a fourth inning RBI single from Christian Knapczyk (1-3, RBI, 2 BB) and Jack Payton (2-5) scoring on a wild pitch in the seventh.

Next up for Louisville, they'll face Oregon in the 1-1 vs. 1-1 elimination game. First pitch is slated for Sunday, June 5 at 12:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ESPN+ and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

(Photo of Louisville Players: Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)

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