Wyatt Leads No. 21 Cardinals Past Kent State in NCAA Regional Opener

Friday, June 1

Lubbock, Texas

7:00 PM

University of Louisville

44-17

Kent State

40-16

Kent State

Louisville

The Cardinals celebrate the first of Logan Wyatt's two homers in Friday's win. (Photo: Gary Wolf)

Wyatt Leads No. 21 Cardinals Past Kent State in NCAA Regional Opener

June 01, 2018 | Baseball

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Wyatt delivers two home runs and seven RBIs in Louisville’s 13-6 victory against the Golden Flashes

By: Garett Wall

LUBBOCK, Texas - Logan Wyatt had a pair of home runs and a career best seven RBIs to lead the No. 21 Louisville baseball team to a 13-6 victory over Kent State in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Lubbock Regional at Rip Griffin Park.

With the victory, the No. 2 seeded Cardinals (44-17) will face No. 1 seeded and ninth-ranked Texas Tech in a winners' bracket matchup on Saturday at 8 p.m., ET. The host Red Raiders opened the Lubbock Regional with a 9-2 win against New Mexico State on Friday afternoon. Kent State (40-16) will face New Mexico State in an elimination game on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Wyatt was 2-for-4 overall connecting on a grand slam in the first inning and a three-run homer in the second to propel Louisville to a 10-2 lead after two innings. The seven RBIs for the sophomore first baseman matched the school record for RBIs in an NCAA Championship game equaling the total achieved by Chris Dominguez against Missouri in the Columbia Regional on June 4, 2007. Friday's performance by Wyatt also marked the ninth time in school history a Louisville player has connected for two home runs in an NCAA Championship game with Dominguez achieving the feat three times.

156046 — Jake Snider had three hits in Friday's NCAA win. (Photo: Gary Wolf)

Sophomore Jake Snider joined Wyatt as one of five Louisville players with at least two hits against the Golden Flashes as the outfielder was 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored for the Cardinals, who extended their NCAA Regional winning streak to 16 games. Freshman Zach Britton had two doubles, drove in two runs and scored once, while Drew Campbell was 2-for-4 with a triple, one RBI and two runs scored. Danny Oriente chipped in with two hits, including a double, and drove in a run, while Josh Stowers singled, walked, stole two bases and scored two runs.

On the mound, junior lefthander Adam Wolf earned his eighth win of the season and moved to 14-2 in his collegiate career after allowing six runs on seven hits with four strikeouts in 7.0+ innings. Junior righthander Riley Thompson followed Wolf and registered three strikeouts in two scoreless innings of relief to close the game.

Kent State opened the scoring on Friday after Pete Schuler connected on a two-out RBI single in the first inning. Nick Kanavas led off with a single up the middle, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and took third on a groundout to the right side before scoring on Schuler's single through the right side.

Louisville answered in the bottom of the first scoring six runs on six hits against Golden Flashes righthander Joey Murray. Each of the first six Cardinals to the plate reached base safely and scored. Tyler Fitzgerald and Snider singled and Devin Mann earned a walk before Wyatt drove all of them home with his second grand slam of the season. Wyatt launched a 3-2 offering over the right field wall for his fifth homer. Stowers followed with a single and stole second before scoring on Campbell's RBI triple to left center. Oriente drove Campbell home with a RBI sacrifice fly for the 6-1 lead.

156044 — Logan Wyatt connects on his first home run Friday. (Photo: Gary Wolf)

After the Golden Flashes plated a run in the top of the second on a solo home run by Nick Elsen, the Cardinals kept the pedal down with four runs in the bottom of the inning, including three on the second home run of the game for Wyatt. Snider led off the inning with a walk and Mann followed with a single ahead of Wyatt, who pulled a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right center for his second blast of the game. Campbell continued the inning with an infield single and moved to third on a double by Oriente before scoring on Britton's RBI groundout for the 10-2 cushion.

Kent State narrowed the gap to 10-5 in the fifth inning on a three-homer by Schuler. After Mason Mamerella walked and Pavin Parks was hit by a pitch, Schuler sent a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall for his first four-bagger of the season.

The Cardinals extended the margin in the sixth inning on a two-out, two-run double by Snider. Following walks to Britton and Fitzgerald, Snider drove both home after sending a 0-1 pitch into the right center gap for the 12-5 lead.

Louisville added its final run of the night on a two-out RBI double from Britton. Stowers walked, stole second and moved to third on a groundout to the right side before scoring on Britton's double to center field. The Golden Flashes played a run in the eighth on a RBI groundout by Michael Turner to close the scoring.

Schuler finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs for Kent State. Murray, the two-time Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year, took the loss and dropped to 9-2 on the season after allowing eight runs, all earned, on seven hits in 1.0+ inning.

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NOTES
- Along with winning 16 straight NCAA Regional games, Louisville has won each of its last nine NCAA Regional openers.

- The Cardinals have won eight of the last nine against Kent State, including back-to-back NCAA Regional wins.

- With his first inning single, Josh Stowers reached base safely in his 44th straight game, the longest such streak for a Louisville player since at least 2000.

- The seven RBIs for Wyatt on Friday were the most for a Louisville player since Brendan McKay had nine RBIs against Eastern Kentucky on April 25 2017.

- Saturday's game will be the third meeting of the season between the Cardinals and Red Raiders. The teams split a pair of midweek games in Louisville on March 13-14. Texas Tech won 8-4 in the opening game before Louisville took the finale, 7-4.