University of Louisville
South Florida &
Five Unearned Runs In Eighth Ends Cards Day
May 16, 2001 | Baseball
May 16, 2001
Five unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth broke open a 5-5 ballgame and boosted South Florida to a 10-5 win over Louisville in round one of the 2001 FedEx C-USA Baseball Tournament. The Cardinals will move into the loser's bracket of the double elimination tournament for a 10:00a.m. ET game versus #2 seed Houston on Thursday.
The Cougars were upset by the seventh seeded Golden Eagles of Southern Miss 6-2 in the first game Wednesday.
With two out and men at first and second in the bottom of the eighth, right fielder Daniel Boyd hit a hard ground ball to U of L third baseman Mike Budak who failed to come up with what would have been the third out of the inning. Both runs scored and the floodgates opened for a five run inning on four hits.
The Bulls(29-27) opened the scoring in the first on an RBI double by first baseman Mike Eylward, scoring second baseman Ben Drawdy who had singled to lead off.
Louisville shortstop Adam Haley evened things at 1-1 with an RBI single in the top of the third that scored left fielder Dave Williams Jr., who reached on a one-out single.
The Cards took the lead in the fourth when DH Mark Jurich doubled over the head of left fielder Chris Cuccia with one out, and right fielder Bill Gatti Jr. followed with a towering home run over the 405-foot mark in straightaway center field, giving the Cards a 3-1 lead.
The lead was short-lived as USF plated three in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by shortstop Mike Macaluso and a two-run single down the right field line by third baseman Myron Leslie to make it 4-3 Bulls.
Bulls DH Rick Stegbauer singled home a run in the bottom of the fifth, upping the advantage to 5-3, but the Cards responded in the top of the sixth with a two-spot to tie things up at 5-5.
First baseman Morgan Bojorquez single to lead off, and was moved to third on a one-out double to the wall in center by Gatti. A ground out to second by catcher Fernando Isa scored Bojorquez, and second baseman Matt Jarboe singled to right center to score Gatti.
Senior Denny Williams started for the 16th time this season, equalling the school record for a single season, and placing him in a tie for seventh on the career list with 32.
Williams surrendered four runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out three in his 3.1 innings. He has now thrown 93.0 innings this season, tying him for seventh on the single season list. He was relieved by Carlos Fernandez (2-2), who took the hard luck loss, throwing four innings and giving up one earned run on four hits and two walks. He struck out one.
First-team All-Conference selection Josh Ring entered for the 27th time this season, tying him for second on the single season list, and was touched for three unearned runs on four hits, while striking out one in two-thirds of an inning. It was his 73rd strikeout on the season, putting him 10th on the single season list.
USF reliever Jason Bartz(3-2) was the winner, tossing 1.1 perfect innings. Bulls starter John Gorham gave up all five Cardinal runs on 11 hits and a walk while striking out three.
Hook, Haley, Gatti and Jarboe each had two hits in the game, while Budak hit his 20th double on the year, tying him for the 5th best effort in U of L history.
Earlier this season, Louisville(31-28) took two of three from Houston at Cardinal Stadium. The winner of the UH/U of L game will face the loser of the USM/USF game at 4:00p.m. ET Friday in another elimination game.
