University of Louisville
<B>BALL STATE</B>
Cardinal Nine Loses Marathon
March 12, 2004 | Baseball
March 12, 2004
LOUISVILLE, KY - The University of Louisville baseball team lost the battle of the Cardinals, 10-5 to Ball State in a 14-inning marathon, the third longest game in the history of U of L baseball.
Ball State plated a pair in the first on an RBI single by Kyle Dygert and a fielder's choice by Lucas Fry for an early 2-0 advantage.
A solo home run by Dygert to lead off the fourth made it 3-0 Ball State.
Isaiah Howes and Daniel Burton each singled, putting runners at the corners in the fourth. An RBI groundout by Chris Cates scored Howes and an RBI single by Nick Haley plated Burton on a spectacular head-first slide to cut the lead to one in the bottom of the fourth.
Catcher Ron Braun drilled his first home run of the season, a lined solo shot to left on a 1-0 pitch, to tie the game at three, and that score would carry into the 10th inning.
In the top of the 10th, Fry singled home two unearned runs to give Ball State a 5-3 edge.
In the bottom of the 10th, Boomer Whiting and Cates opened the inning with back to back singles and moved up a station on a sac bunt by Haley. A passed ball and a wild pitch scored the two runs U of L(5-7) needed to tie the game at five apiece.
Ball State(4-4) exploded for five runs on six hits in the 14th to put Louisville away.
U of L starter Jon Harbridge, allowed three runs on five hits and a walk in 5.2 innings, striking out four.
Sophomore Skylar Meade tossed 1.1 scoreless frames of relief, allowing a hit and a walk to go with a pair of strikeouts.
Fellow sophomore Brian Halford allowed the two unearned runs on four hits in 2.2 innings, striking out three.
Freshman Scott Jenkins twirled 2.1 scoreless innings allowing a walk, while sophomore Griffin Bailey (0-1) took the hard luck loss, allowing a run on a hit in 1.1 innings, striking out one.
Freshman B.J. Rosenberg surrendered four runs, three earned in two-thirds of an inning of work.
Ball State sent five pitchers to the mound, with freshman Richie Fralick(1-0) earning the win with two innings of hitless ball, walking one and striking out two.
Cates lead the U of L attack with a 3 for 5 effort. Braun, McKinnon and Howes each had a pair of hits, while Howes tied a school record with four walks.
The longest game in school history was in the first season of baseball on May, 24, 1909, a 3-2 win over St. Xavier College that went 17 innings. On May 10, 1929 Louisville and Kentucky finished in a 0-0 tie after 15 innings. In that game, U of L starter Harvey Jeffries went the distance, twirling 15 shutout innings, the longest outing in Cardinal history.
The same two teams will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, after Ball State faces Cincinnati at 11:00 a.m. Admission to Cardinal Stadium is free.
