Baseball Completes Fall with Sunday's Pizza Bowl Finale
October 16, 2011 | Baseball
Oct. 16, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville baseball team completed its fall season with the finale of the 2011 Pizza Bowl Series on Sunday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.
In Sunday's finale, JJ's Juice and Swiss Cheese's finished in a 6-6 tie in the nine-inning contest. The Juice, coached by former Louisville catcher J.J. Ethel, clinched the best-of-three series with wins in the first two games on Thursday and Saturday against the Swiss, coached by Cardinals' assistant and former player Kyle Cheesebrough.
Leading the way offensively on Sunday for the series-winning Juice was junior catcher Shane Crain (Lexington, Ky./Lexington Christian HS), who finished 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, freshman catcher Cameron O'Brien (Tulsa, Okla./Bishop Kelley HS), who was 1-for-4 with two RBI and a run and sophomore shortstop Alex Chittenden (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central HS), who was 2-for-4 with a run.
Offensively for the Swiss, sophomore Ryan Seiz (Perkasie, Pa./Christopher Dock HS) was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, junior first baseman Zak Wasserman (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore HS) finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run and senior outfielder Stewart Ijames (Owensboro, Ky./Owensboro Catholic HS) went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.
On the mound, senior righty starter Travis Tingle (Louisville, Ky./Butler HS) allowed two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in 5.0 innings for the Juice. For the Swiss, sophomore right-handed starter Chad Green (Effingham, Ill./Effingham HS) allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings.
The Cardinals are scheduled to open the 2012 season at the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge on Feb. 17-19 in Clearwater, Fla., while the home slate at Jim Patterson Stadium is set to begin with a mid-week game against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 22. The complete 2012 Louisville baseball schedule is expected to be released this week.
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Comments from Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell following Sunday's fall finale
"It was a very productive fall. There is a sense of urgency in this program after the way we finished last season. From Memorial Day (end of the Cards' 2011 season) until now, there has been an emphasis and an understanding that we must get better and we have to play the game harder. And that's an attitude we must continue to have through the winter and into the spring. We must do well in the classroom. We must get stronger physically and mentally."
"There was a lot of anticipation to start this fall. To get to this point, I'm really pleased with our effort. There are still a lot of question marks about our team, but for the most part, we did a lot of good things. It'll be nice to get some guys healthy that we didn't get to see play this fall, but injuries are part of the game and we hope time will allow these wounds to heal and we'll get this whole club ready to go in the spring."
"Now, we have a five-week period where the real emphasis will be in the weight room and on our speed program while also continuing to do well in the classroom and in the community. It was made clear to these guys that we were going to push them and challenge them in a lot of areas this fall and to this point, they've responded and I'm definitely pleased with that."
