Prado Reaches 400 Wins As Cards Beat Saint Louis
July 14, 2000 | Baseball
April 21, 2000
ST. LOUIS - Head coach Lelo Prado notched his 400th career victory Friday night as the U of L baseball team topped Saint Louis 9-7.
Three Cardinal (13-26-1, 6-9-1) relievers combined to shutout the Billikens (16-23, 4-12) in the final three innings. Brad Mattingly went 1.1 innings, Antonio Castellvi retired the only batter he faced and Sean Green shut down all four batters he faced including two called strikeouts to pick up his fourth save of the season.
First Baseman Curtis Sapp doubled to deep center in the first, scoring centerfielder Mike Hook, who led off the inning with a walk and stole second to jump the Cards out to a 1-0 lead.
Hook then blasted his fourth home run of the season down the left field line in the second, a three-run shot to put the Cards up 4-0.
Saint Louis answered with a run in the third to cut the lead to 4-1, but Louisville added two more in the fourth on a sac fly by Hook and a fielding error.
Cardinal starter Brian Bentley (3-2) took the hill to open the game for the 41st time in his U of L tenure, setting the all-time record, and also climbed to the top of the career strikeout list with seven K's in six innings, giving him 230 for his career.
The Billikens jumped back into the game when catcher Adam Shea knocked a Bentley pitch over the centerfield wall for a three-run homer to cut the Card lead to 6-5.
Shortstop Scott Kohler ripped a double off the wall in left to plate two runs in the sixth to boost the U of L lead to 8-5, but SLU answered with a solo homer off the bat of DH Mike Orrico, and a hit batter with the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame to close the gap to 8-7.
Louisville loaded the bases in the ninth before a walk to pinch hitter Kyle Rajsich gave the Cards an insurance run.
SLU starter Dan Shouse (1-7) picked up the loss, giving up six earned on nine hits in five plus innings.
Hook drove in four on the night, and third baseman Rob Partin had his second consecutive three hit game, scoring three runs.
The teams will play two nine-inning games Saturday beginning at 1:00EDT, wrapping up the series.
