University of Louisville
at West Virginia *
Cardinal Nine Loses in Ninth Sunday
April 23, 2006 | Baseball
April 23, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - Stan Posluszny's RBI single with two out in the bottom of the ninth lifted West Virginia to a 6-5 win over the University of Louisville, also giving the Mountaineers the weekend series two games to one.
The first three batters of the game scored for West Virginia as they jumped to a 3-0 lead. Tyler Kuhn walked, Doug Nelms singled and Justin jenkins brought in a run with a double down the right field line. A popup in center off the bat of Posluszny fell into no-man's land for an RBI single. Kyle Matusek then rolled in to a double play that scored the third run of the inning.
Louisville responded with a solo home run by junior Isaiah Howes, deep over the fence in left center, that made it 3-1 Mountaineers (27-13, 7-8 BIG EAST). It was Howes' second home run of the season, and second in as many games.
The Cardinals (17-22, 8-6 BIG EAST) closed the lead to one run in the sixth, when Pete Rodriguez singled and later scored on a two-out RBI single by Alec Lowrey.
In the seventh, Logan Johnson drew a four pitch walk and Jorge Castillo singled through the right side before Daniel Burton moved the runners up a station with a sac bunt. Derrick Alfonso followed with an two-run single to right, to give Louisville its first lead of the game 4-3.
U of L added an insurance run in the eighth when Chris Cates singled and scored on Castillo's third hit of the ballgame.
West Virginia answered with back-to-back solo home runs by Posluszny and Matuszek to lead off the home half of the eighth to tie the game at five.
Louisville starter Brian Halford went a career-long 8.2 innings, leaving the game after giving up a leadoff single to Adam White, and walking Jenkins two outs later. Gavin Logsdon got ahead of Posluszny 1-2 before his single up the middle plated the game winner.
Halford dropped to 3-2 on the season with the loss, giving up six runs on 12 hits and three walks, while striking out four.
WVU reliever Eric Saffell (5-1) picked up the win out of the bullpen, allowing a run on five hits and a walk in three innings, while striking out one.
Castillo and Alfonso each had three hits for the Cards, who stranded 12 runners in the loss.
The Cards will play 12 of their last 16 games at home, beginning Tuesday night when they host Western Kentucky in Jim Patterson Stadium at 6:00 p.m. ET. Admission to all home games is free.
