Louisville Drops Series Opener at Notre Dame
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UL | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
ND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 11 | 1 |
W: Aidan Tyrell (3-1), L: Ryan Hawks (4-1)
SOUTH BEND, Ind - Heading up north for their first true road games of the season, the Louisville baseball program struggled in the opener of their three-game weekend tilt against Notre Dame, falling 4-3 Friday at Frank Eck Stadium.
Three days removed from plating their most runs of the season in a 15-7 win over WKU, the No. 2 Cardinals (18-3, 2-2 ACC) largely struggled against the Fighting Irish (11-8, 3-4 ACC) pitching staff. They tied for their second-fewest hits for the season (4 vs. Bowling Green on Feb. 24), and only had nine batters reach base for the entire afternoon.
Four of their baserunners came in the second inning alone, which featured a two-run RBI single from Gavin Kilen (2-4, 2 RBI) for the game's first runs. He and Christian Knapczyk (2-5) combined for four of Louisville's six hits
Ryan Hawks (5.0 IP, 6 K, 1 BB, 8 H, 4 ER) looked smooth in the early innings of his start on the mound, but things quickly fell apart in the middle innings. A pair of RBI doubles in the fifth inning gave Notre Dame three runs to take the lead, then his day would be done after surrendering a leadoff solo home run in the sixth.
Evan Webster (0.2 IP, 1 H) and Tucker Biven (2.1 IP, 3 K, 1 BB, 2 H) helped keep the Irish off the scoreboard down the stretch after Hawks' exit, but Louisville's offense couldn't back them up. Isaac Humphrey (1-3, BB) scored in the sixth thanks to a throwing error, but that was the only other run scored in the game by the Cardinals.
Next up for Louisville, they'll attempt to even up their series at Notre Dame in game two. First pitch is slated for Saturday, Mar. 25 at 3:00 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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