Homers Lift Cardinal Baseball Past Western Kentucky
July 13, 2000 | Baseball
March 22, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Troy Hilpp and Curtis Sapp each homered in the sixth inning to give Louisville an 8-7 win over Western Kentucky Wednesday in Bowling Green.
The Cardinals jumped out on top with three runs in the first inning. Center fielder Mike Hook led off the game with a single to right and was driven in two batters later by shortstop Scott Kohler to give the Cards their first run of the game. A pair of walks to right fielder Josh Rhodes and designated hitter Bill Gatti Jr. loaded the bases for catcher Tony Taylor, who singled up the middle to drive in two runs.
WKU (10-12) responded with a pair of runs in the second on two solo home runs, and then tied the game in the third when Brian Houdek singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on another wild pitch.
Louisville regained the lead in the fourth with three more runs. Kohler hit a bases loaded sacrifice fly to drive in Matt Jarboe and Sapp followed with a two-run single to put the Cards ahead 6-3.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Hilltoppers rallied for four runs on two hits, a walk, a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a Cardinal throwing error to take the lead at 7-6.
The lead was short-lived, as Hilpp and Sapp each smacked their second home runs of the year to give the Cardinals the win.
Hilpp finished the day 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Sapp went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Hook, Rhodes and Jarboe each recorded two hits to help lead the Cardinals' 13-hit attack.
Brad Mattingly (3-3) pitched three and third innings in relief to pick up the win, while Sean Green worked an inning and two-thirds to register his second save of the season. WKU's Jay Meyer (2-1) took the loss.
The Cardinals (7-15-1) return to action this weekend when they play host to Conference USA foe Cincinnati in a three-game series at Cardinal Stadium. Friday's game starts at 3 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday's games getting underway at 1 p.m.
