University of Louisville
NOTRE DAME
Baseball Wins 14-2 in Series-Opener with Notre Dame
May 19, 2011 | Baseball
May 19, 2011
Gardner and Self Discuss Thursday's Win
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With its highest scoring performance of the season and another good outing on the mound, the Louisville baseball team rolled to a 14-2 series-opening win over Notre Dame on Thursday night at Jim Patterson Stadium.
With their third straight win, the Cardinals improved to 28-26 overall and 13-12 in BIG EAST games, while the Fighting Irish dropped to 21-26-1 on the season and 12-12 in league action. The teams will continue the series on Friday at 7 p.m., ET, while Sunday's series finale is set for 1 p.m. Admission is free for the series and each of the final two games of the weekend will be televised live by CBS College Sports.
Freshman designated hitter Jeff Gardner (Louisville, Ky./Whitefield Academy) was 3-for-4 with his second home run of the season and a career-best three RBI, while junior infielder Ryan Wright (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead HS) was 3-for-5 with his 10th home run and two runs scored. Three other Cardinals had two hits each led by sophomore infielder Cade Stallings (Knoxville, Tenn./Knoxville, Tenn.), who was 2-for-4 with his third home run of the season, two RBI and two runs scored as Louisville finished with its highest run total since a 24-6 win over Rutgers on May 1, 2010.
Junior outfielder Stewart Ijames (Owensboro, Ky./Owensboro Catholic HS) was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, while freshman infielder Alex Chittenden (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central HS) finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI as Louisville out-hit Notre Dame 14-10, including a 7-0 difference in extra-base hits.
On the mound for U of L, junior right-hander Derek Self (Cave City, Ky./Caverna HS) gave Louisville another quality start and improved to 3-2 on the season after allowing only one run on eight hits in 7.0 innings pitched. Senior righty Gabriel Shaw (Paducah, Ky./St. Mary's HS) followed by allowing only one unearned run in 1.2 innings of relief, while senior lefty Joe Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay HS) recorded the final two outs of the game for Louisville.
For Notre Dame, senior right-hander Brian Dupra suffered one of the toughest outings of his career as he allowed nine runs on 12 hits in 6.0 innings to take the loss and drop to 3-6 on the season. The run and hit totals matched career highs for Dupra. He was followed by Patrick Veerkamp, who allowed five runs, though only one was earned, on two hits in 0.2 innings of relief.
The Cardinals jumped on Notre Dame early in Thursday's game scoring three runs on three hits in the first inning against Dupra. The scoring started with an RBI single to left field by Ijames to plate Gardner and continued with an RBI double to center by senior catcher J.J. Ethel (Phoenix, Ariz./Mountain Pointe HS) to score Wright. Stallings pushed the lead to 3-0 with an RBI sacrifice fly to center to score Ijames.
Louisville added a pair of runs in the second inning as senior outfielder Drew Haynes (New Albany, Ind./New Albany HS) and freshman outfielder Adam Engel (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) scored on a two-run double down the left field line by Gardner for the 5-0 lead. After an RBI single by Chittenden scored Stallings in the third, the Cardinals made it 7-0 in the fourth inning as Gardner sent the first pitch of his at-bat in the inning just over the left field wall and out of the reach of Notre Dame leftfielder Eric Jagielo.
After the Fighting Irish scored a run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by second baseman Frank DeSico, the Cardinals scored two runs in the bottom of the frame on an RBI groundout by Haynes to score Chittenden and an RBI single by Ijames to score Gardner for the 9-1 lead. An inning later, Louisville added five more runs on two hits and two Irish errors. Stallings led off the inning by hammering an 0-1 pitch from Veerkamp over the wall in left field and onto the party deck. Freshman infielder Ryan Seiz (Perkasie, Pa./Christopher Dock HS) followed Stallings by reaching base on an error by shortstop Mick Doyle, moved to second and to third on wild pitches by Veerkamp and then scored as freshman outfielder Cole Sturgeon reached base on fielding error by first baseman Trey Mancini.
After Chittenden scored the third run of the inning on an RBI groundout by Engel, Sturgeon was plated on an RBI sacrifice fly by freshman Ty Young (Coatesville, Pa./Malvern Prep) for the fourth run of the frame. Wright closed the scoring for the Cardinals as he sent a 1-0 pitch from Veerkamp over the left field wall for a solo home run and a 14-1 advantage. The Fighting Irish scored an unearned run in the eighth inning for the final margin.
With two days left in the regular season, Louisville is tied with Cincinnati and West Virginia for fourth in the BIG EAST standings. The Cardinals are 1/2 game ahead of seventh-place Notre Dame, one game in front of eighth-place Seton Hall and two games clear of ninth-place USF. Only the top eight teams advance to next week's BIG EAST Championship in Clearwater, Fla.
