University of Louisville
USC
No. 19 Baseball Falls 4-3 at USC on Tuesday
March 16, 2011 | Baseball
March 16, 2011
LOS ANGELES - The 19th-ranked Louisville baseball team had its three-game winning streak in the state of California ended on Tuesday night with a 4-3 loss to USC at Dedeaux Field.
With Tuesday's loss, the Cardinals dropped to 11-4 on the season, while the Trojans improved to 6-10 with the victory. Louisville will conclude its UBS Spring Trip on Wednesday at 6 p.m., ET at USC. Live audio of the game will be available to subscribers through CardsTV at UofLSports.com.
After opening the UBS Spring Trip to the West Coast with three wins last weekend at Pepperdine, the Cardinals were unable to find enough offense to overcome an early 4-0 deficit in Tuesday's loss to the Trojans. USC opened the scoring with two runs on two hits in the first inning against Louisville right-handed starter Gabriel Shaw (Paducah, Ky./St. Mary's HS). The first run came on an RBI single up the middle by first baseman Ricky Oropesa to score catcher Kevin Roundtree, who led off the inning with a walk. The second run was plated when Oropesa scored from third on an RBI sacrifice fly to center by right fielder Alex Sherrod.
Following a scoreless second inning, the Trojans pushed their lead to 4-0 in the third as Sherrod followed a walk to second baseman Joe De Pinto by hitting his third home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field. Shaw went on to take the loss for the Cardinals after allowing four runs on five hits with two walks in 3.0 innings to fall to 0-1 on the season.
On the other side, Louisville struggled to get going after leaving six runners on base in the first five innings against USC right-hander Brandon Garcia. The Cardinals finally broke through in the sixth inning when freshman Ryan Seiz (Perkasie, Pa./Christopher Dock HS) earned a one-out walk from Garcia, moved to second on a balk by Trojans' reliever Chris Mezger and then scored on an RBI double to left field by sophomore third baseman Cade Stallings (Knoxville, Tenn./Farragut HS). After advancing to third on another balk by Mezger, Stallings scored on an RBI single up the middle by senior catcher J.J. Ethel (Phoenix, Ariz./Mountain Pointe HS) to cut the deficit to 4-2.
After a scoreless seventh inning, Louisville drew closer at 4-3 in the eighth when junior outfielder Stewart Ijames (Owensboro, Ky./Owensboro Catholic HS) reached base with a leadoff double down the right field line, moved to third on a balk by reliever Brad Douthit and later scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by Stallings, who finished Tuesday's game 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored.
The Cardinals threatened in the ninth inning by getting senior outfielder Drew Haynes (New Albany, Ind./New Albany HS) to second base with only one out, but USC closer Chad Smith shut down the threat with a flyout and a strikeout to earn his third save of the season. Garcia got the win for the Trojans after allowing only one run on five hits with three strikeouts in 5.1 innings to improve to 1-2 this season.
For Louisville, freshman righty Jeff Thompson (Greenville, Ind./Floyd Central HS) kept the Cardinals close with a terrific performance out the bullpen as he allowed only two hits with a career best four strikeouts in a career-long 4.0 innings of shutout relief. He was followed by freshman lefty Cody Ege (Cherokee, Iowa/Washington HS) and junior righty Travis Tingle (Louisville, Ky./Butler HS), who combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning for the Cardinals.
Following Wednesday's finale at USC, Louisville will return home to host a three-game weekend series against Xavier. The Cardinals and Musketeers will open their series on Friday at 3 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium and admission is free for all three games of the weekend.
Louisville Notes
- With Tuesday's loss, Louisville dropped to 0-4 all-time against USC and moved to 4-8 overall in games played in the state of California.
- Louisville's streak of 15 straight games (going back to last year's finale) of allowing two earned runs or fewer by its starting pitchers came to an end on Tuesday.
- The Cardinals had their nine-game winning streak away from home during the regular season ended on Tuesday. Louisville is now 15-3 overall in its last 18 true road games.
- Through 15 games this season, Louisville's pitching staff has an overall ERA of only 1.39 with 97 strikeouts and just 39 walks in 137.0 innings pitched. Opposing batters are hitting only .179 on the season against Cardinal pitchers.
