University of Louisville
Northern Iowa
Ninth Inning Rally Lifts Cardinal Nine To 12-11 Win
February 24, 2001 | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2001
Louisville catcher Carlos De la Osa blasted a bases-loaded double to cap a four-run ninth, giving U of L a 12-11 win over Northern Iowa Saturday afternoon in baseball action. The final margin was the Cardinals(6-7) only lead of the afternoon. The teams will meet in the rubber game Sunday at 1:00 at Cardinal Stadium.
Down 11-8 entering the ninth, Cardinal DH Scott Gerlach and third baseman Mike Budak hit back-to-back one out singles, and left fielder Bill Gatti Jr. reached on a throwing error, scoring Gerlach. First baseman Morgan Bojorquez singled home Budak, and right fielder Mark Jurich walked before De la Osa smoked a 2-0 pitch from Panther reliever Josh Habel to deep centerfield, plating the game winning runs.
Panther hurler Mike Egger(0-1) gave up four runs, three of which were earned, in an inning of action on four hits and a walk in taking the loss. Cardinal freshman Chase Cruse(1-0) got the final three outs in the ninth in relief to pick up his first collegiate victory.
Louisville trailed 9-5 entering the bottom of the 8th when Jurich, a freshman, hit his team leading third home run, a three-run home run to right center, to cut it to 9-8 in favor of the Panthers.
In the top of the ninth, UNI(2-4) plated what looked to be two insurance runs to increase its lead to 11-8, before the Cardinal rally in the bottom of the frame.
To open the scoring, Northern Iowa took a 1-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Jason Simon that scored left fielder Ryan Brunner. The Panthers loaded the bases in consecutive innings, but came away with just the single run. Louisville had men at the corners with no outs in the second, and a bases-loaded opportunity in the third with two out, but were unable to capitalize.
The Panthers pushed across two more in the fourth when right fielder Seth Patterson singled home DH Brady Weber who had walked to lead off the frame, and Simon who earlier doubled, scored on the back end of a double steal, making it 3-0.
Louisville tied things up with a three spot in the bottom of the fifth. Sophomore shortstop Adam Haley lead off with a triple to right center, and on the following pitch, senior centerfielder Mike Hook crushed his first home run of the season over the wall in right-center to cut the deficit to 3-2. Gerlach followed Hook with a double down the left field line, and later scored on a single to right by Gatti, knotting the game at three.
UNI then regained the lead with a four-run sixth. Consecutive hits by Simon, Patterson, centerfielder Andrew Buckley and shortstop Travis Welsch plated runs, giving the Panthers a 7-3 advantage.
Gerlach doubled home Hook in the bottom of the sixth, and the Cards made it 7-5 with a run in the seventh, but back-to-back home runs by Simon and Patterson gave the Panthers it's four-run margin back at 9-5.
UNI's Simon and Patterson, the eight and nine hitters in the lineup were a combined 6 for 8 with six RBI and five runs. Gerlach had three hits for the Cards and is now hitting .444 on the season. Gatti hit his third triple and was 2 for 5, as was second baseman Matt Jarboe. Bojorquez set a U of L single game record, getting hit by a pitch three times on the afternoon. The previous mark of two was held by nine different players including Hook and Haley.
Each team went through five pitchers, and Habel and Cruse were the only two not to give up and runs. U of L stranded 15 runners in the game.
Louisville expects to send junior Garrett Estabrook(0-0, 7.36) to the hill to face Scott Miller(0-1, 12.27) in Sunday's game.
