University of Louisville
Pepperdine
Amlung Leads 20th-Ranked Baseball to Shutout Win at Pepperdine
March 12, 2011 | Baseball
March 12, 2011
Amlung and Ijames Discuss Saturday's Road Win
MALIBU, Calif. - Sophomore right-hander Justin Amlung pitched a career best 8.0 shutout innings to lead the No. 20 Louisville baseball team to an 8-0 series-clinching victory at Pepperdine on Saturday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
With their fourth shutout win of the season, the Cardinals improved to 10-3 overall, while the Waves dropped to 6-8 on the season with the loss. Louisville and Pepperdine will conclude the weekend series on Sunday at 4 p.m., ET and live audio of the game will be available to subscribers through CardsTV at UofLSports.com.
Amlung (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier HS) allowed a season-low three hits with three strikeouts in his career long performance, which surpassed his 7.2 innings of shutout baseball against Ohio State earlier this season. The Louisville, Ky., native and St. Xavier High School graduate improved to 3-0 on the season and has not allowed more than one run in any of his four starts in 2011.
At the plate, freshman shortstop Alex Chittenden (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central HS) was 2-for-4 with a career-best three RBI and a run scored, while junior outfielder Stewart Ijames (Owensboro, Ky./Owensboro Catholic HS) finished 2-for-4, including two RBI on his first home run of the season. Freshman Ryan Seiz (Perkasie, Pa./Christopher Dock HS) added a hit and two runs scored in the win for the Cardinals.
Following four scoreless innings to open Saturday's game, Louisville took command with a four-run fifth inning on three hits and one Pepperdine error. The inning started with back-to-back singles by Seiz and sophomore third baseman Cade Stallings (Knoxville, Tenn./Farragut HS) and continued when senior catcher J.J. Ethel (Phoenix, Ariz./Mountain Pointe HS) reached base on his sacrifice bunt as the throw to third base by Pepperdine starting pitcher Jon Moscot was not in time to retire Seiz.
Chittenden then followed with an RBI infield single to third to score Seiz, who was followed home by Stallings and Ethel after Miles Silverstein's throw to first sailed wide of the bag and went to the fence down the right field line resulting in a 3-0 lead for the Cardinals. Louisville added a fourth and final run in the inning on a groundout off the bat of freshman outfielder Adam Engel (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS).
The Cardinals pushed their lead to 6-0 an inning later when Chittenden connected for a two-out, two-run single to right field off Moscot to score Ryan Wright (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead HS) and Seiz after both reached base earlier in the inning with walks.
Louisville closed the scoring in the seventh as Engel was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and then scored two batters later as Ijames hammered a 1-2 pitch from Moscot over the wall in right field for the final 8-0 margin. Moscot took the loss for the Waves and dropped to 0-1 on the season after surrendering eight runs, including seven earned, on eight hits and four walks in 7.0 innings.
On the mound for Louisville, freshman righty Jeff Thompson (Greenville, Ind./Floyd Central HS) followed Amlung with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning in his fourth appearance of the season out of the Cardinals' bullpen.
Louisville Notes
- With Saturday's win, Louisville took a 2-1 lead in the all-time series with Pepperdine. The Cardinals also improved to 3-7 overall in games played in the state of California.
- Louisville starting pitchers have allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of the team's last 14 games going back to last year's season-finale. Cardinal starters have allowed just four earned runs in their last 45.0 innings (0.80 ERA) overall.
- The eight-run performance on Saturday is a season-high for Louisville and the most since the 11-2 win over Saint Louis on June 4, 2010 in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Regional.
- The Cardinals have won eight straight games away from home during the regular season. Louisville is also 14-2 overall in its last 16 true road games.
- Saturday's game was played in 2 hours, 7 minutes, which lowered the average time of play for Louisville's first 13 games this season to 2:22.
- With his performance on Saturday, Justin Amlung lowered his ERA this season to 0.63. He has allowed just two earned runs on 13 hits with 16 strikeouts in 28.2 innings this season.
- Through 13 games this season, Louisville's pitching staff has an overall ERA of only 1.29 with 86 strikeouts and just 31 walks in 119.0 innings pitched. Opposing batters are hitting only .178 on the season against Cardinal pitchers.
- The 2011 UBS Spring Trip is Louisville's first regular season visit to the state of California since 2004. After closing the series at Pepperdine on Sunday afternoon, the Cardinals will play mid-week games at USC on Tuesday (9 p.m., ET) and Wednesday (6 p.m., ET).
