University of Louisville
45-18
Kent State
40-18
No. 21 Baseball Advances to NCAA Regional Championship
June 03, 2018 | Baseball
Oriente drives in four runs as Louisville defeats Kent State to setup rematch with No. 9 Texas Tech
LUBBOCK, Texas - Danny Oriente matched a career high with four RBIs and Bobby Miller pitched eight innings as the No. 21 Louisville baseball team advanced to the championship round of an NCAA Regional for the seventh straight season with Sunday afternoon's 12-6 win over Kent State at Rip Griffin Park.
The No. 2 seeded Cardinals (45-18) advanced to the final round of the NCAA Lubbock Regional and a rematch with host Texas Tech on Sunday night. Making its ninth appearance in the championship round of NCAA Regional in head coach Dan McDonnell's 12 seasons, Louisville dropped a 10-4 decision to the Red Raiders (41-17) on Saturday night. The Cardinals will need a win on Sunday night to force a winner-take-all finale on Monday.
Oriente finished 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored to go with his second career four-RBI performance. Devin Mann was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, a home run and two walks, while Jake Snider was 3-for-6 with one RBI and one stolen base. Tyler Fitzgerald chipped in with two hits, two walks, one RBI and scored twice for the Cardinals, who used a six-run fifth inning to gain command for good in the win.
Miller delivered the second longest outing of his young career as the freshman righty scattered six runs and eight hits with six strikeouts in his eight innings of work. Junior righthander Liam Jenkins twirled a scoreless ninth inning to complete the win as the Cardinals used just two pitchers in the game.
In a rematch of Friday's opening round game won by the Cardinals, Louisville started the scoring on Sunday afternoon with a run in the second inning after Oriente's RBI single plated Josh Stowers for the 1-0 lead. Stowers earned a leadoff walk and moved to third on an error by the Golden Flashes. Oriente drove him home with his base hit through the left side.
Kent State (40-18) evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the second on a RBI sacrifice fly from Michael Turner. An inning later, the Cardinals regained command with a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Drew Campbell doubled to start the inning and then scored on a RBI single from Oriente. Later in the inning, Oriente scored from third on a RBI single off the bat of Fitzgerald.
The Cardinals erupted for a six-run fifth inning to put the game out of reach. Campbell started the scoring in the inning with his RBI groundout to plate Mann. Oriente followed with a two-run double down the right field to score Logan Wyatt and Stowers. Justin Lavey's RBI sacrifice fly to right sent Oriente home and Snider connected on a run-scoring single to plate Zach Britton. Wyatt capped the inning with his RBI single to right field for a 9-1 lead.
The Golden Flashes narrowed the margin to 9-3 in the sixth inning on RBI ground ball off the bat of Pavin Parks and a throwing error by the Cardinals. Louisville added a run in the top of the eighth on a solo home run from Devin Mann to push the lead to 10-3.
Kent State then scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth on a solo homer by Nick Kanavas and a two-run homer from Pete Schuler. The Cardinals added two additional runs in the ninth inning as Ethan Stringer scored from third on a throwing error by the Golden Flashes and Mann drove Fitzgerald home with a RBI single to left.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Miller, Bobby (6-1)
L: KRAUS, Eli (9-4)
Batting:
2B: Campbell, Drew 1 ; Oriente, Danny 1
HR: Mann, Devin 1
RBI: Fitzgerald, Tyler 1 ; Snider, Jake 1 ; Mann, Devin 2 ; Wyatt, Logan 1 ; Campbell, Drew 1 ; Oriente, Danny 4 ; Lavey, Justin 1
SF: Lavey, Justin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Fitzgerald, Tyler 2 ; Mann, Devin 2 ; Wyatt, Logan 1 ; Stowers, Josh 2 ; Campbell, Drew 1 ; Oriente, Danny 1 ; Britton, Zach 2 ; Stringer, Ethan 1
SB: Fitzgerald, Tyler 1 ; Snider, Jake 1 ; Stringer, Ethan 1
CS: Snider, Jake 1 ; Lavey, Justin 1
Batting:
2B: ELSEN, Nick 1
HR: KANAVAS, Nick 1 ; SCHULER, Pete 1
RBI: KANAVAS, Nick 1 ; PARKS, Pavin 1 ; SCHULER, Pete 2 ; TURNER, Michael 1
SF: TURNER, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: KANAVAS, Nick 2 ; PARKS, Pavin 1 ; SCHULER, Pete 1 ; ELSEN, Nick 1 ; HOLLANDER, Josh 1
HBP: MAMARELLA, Mason 1
