University of Louisville
<i>@#24 TCU *</i>
Howes and Rosenberg Lead Cardinal Nine to 9-5 Win
May 15, 2005 | Baseball
May 15, 2005
FORT WORTH, TX - Isaiah Howes was 3 for 5 with two home runs, a double and four RBI, and B.J. Rosenberg struck out a career-high nine to lead the University of Louisville to a 9-5 win over 24th-ranked TCU Saturday night.
Nick Haley singled with one out in the first and J.T. LaFountain followed with his 20th walk of the year. An out later Howes drilled his 15th double of the season, putting the Cards (28-20, 13-12 C-USA) up 2-0.
Ryan McKinnon singled up the middle to lead off the Cardinal second and Curt Stewart followed with a walk. After a failed sac bunt attempt by Chris Cates erased McKinnon at third, Whiting singled to load the bases.
Haley drew a bases-loaded walk to push across one, and a sac fly by LaFountain made it 4-0 Cards.
Keith Conlon hit his fifth home run of the season to open the bottom of the second, cutting the lead to 4-1.
Howes had an answer, roping a 2-2 pitch to right-center for his second home run of the season, reestablishing a four-run advantage.
In the Cardinal fourth, Cates smoked a leadoff double into the left field corner and Whiting was hit by a pitch. Haley reached when his sac bunt was mishandled by the pitcher, again loading the bases.
This time LaFountain smacked a two-run single back up the box to make it 7-1 Louisville.
Whiting singled, moved to second on a groundout by Haley and stole third before scoring on a sac fly by Logan Johnson for an 8-1 advantage.
A two-run home run by Chad Huffman in the eighth ended Rosenberg's day and cut the lead to 8-3. Howes batted with one out in the ninth and crushed an 0-1 pitch off the center field wall. As center fielder Keith Conlon went down after attempting to make a catch, Howes motored around the bases for the first U of L inside-the-park home run since Cates turned the trick against Murray State on March 16, 2004. It also marked the first multi home run game by a Cardinal since Mark Jurich belted two against Charlotte on April 18, 2004.
Shelby Ford hit a two-run shot of his own in the ninth to close the scoring.
Rosenberg (5-3) was outstanding, giving up three runs on just five hits and two walks over 7.1 innings. He struck out the side in order in the seventh to establish the career-best.
Griffin Bailey gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in 1.2 innings, striking out one.
TCU (35-16, 18-8 C-USA) starter Tim McGough (6-2) lasted just an inning and a third, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks. He fanned one in the loss.
LaFountain walked twice and drove in two runs, and is now tied for 5th all-time in games played (199), 8th in at bats (707), 9th in runs (156), 9th in hits (224) and tied for fifth in doubles(46).
Bailey appeared for the 26th time on the season, tying him for 8th place on the single season list. Whiting is fifth in hit by pitches with 26 in his career, and his 24 steals this season places him tied for seventh. He has 30 career steals, good for an eighth place tie.
With the win, the Cards end the day in 6th place in C-USA.
The same two teams will meet Sunday for the rubber game of the series at 2:00 p.m. ET. The Frogs have yet to lose a C-USA series this season, while the Cards improve to 5-3 this season against ranked teams.
