University of Louisville
Georgetown
No. 18 Baseball Rolls Past Georgetown, 12-1
April 06, 2012 | Baseball
April 6, 2012
BETHESDA, Md. - Sophomore right-hander Jeff Thompson pitched seven shutout innings and the offense rolled up 16 hits as the 18th-ranked Louisville baseball team picked up a 12-1 series-clinching win at Georgetown on Friday afternoon at Shirley Povich Field.
With their fifth straight win, the Cardinals improved to 23-8 overall and remained atop the BIG EAST Conference standings with a 7-1 league record, while Georgetown dropped to 14-15 overall and 2-6 in BIG EAST games. Louisville will attempt to complete a series sweep of the Hoyas on Saturday at noon ET.
Thompson (Greenville, Ind./Floyd Central HS) allowed only three hits with five strikeouts and no walks during his seven scoreless innings to earn the win and improve to 6-1 on the season. The seven innings of work matched a career high for Thompson while the three hits equaled his season low. Following Thompson, freshman righty Joe Ceja (Ottawa, Ill./Marquette Academy) allowed an unearned run in the eighth, while freshman lefty Joe Filomeno (Cicero, Ill./St. Rita HS) had two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth to close out the game.
At the plate, it was the middle of the Cardinals' lineup that did the most of the work on Friday with second baseman Nick Ratajczak (Joliet, Ill./Gulf Coast CC), shortstop Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky./Butler HS), first baseman Stewart Ijames (Owensboro, Ky./Owensboro Catholic HS) and third baseman Ty Young (Coatesville, Pa./Malvern Prep) combining to go 9-for-18 with seven RBI and six runs scored. Batting second in the lineup, Ratajczak was 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run, while No. 3 hitter Lucas was 3-for-5 with one RBI and one run. Ijames, batting fourth, was 2-for-5 with his team-leading 10th home run of the season, two RBI and two runs, while Young in the fifth spot was 2-for-4 with his third home run, three RBI and two runs.
Following a scoreless first inning, Louisville took complete command of the game with a four-run second against Georgetown lefty starter Thomas Polus. Ijames led off the inning with a solo home run to right field for the first run, while Young scored the second run moments later on an RBI by outfielder Cole Sturgeon (Owensboro, Ky./Owensboro Catholic HS). After Sturgeon scored on GU throwing error, catcher Shane Crain (Lexington, Ky./Wabash Valley CC) scored on an RBI single by Lucas for the 4-0 lead.
After a run in the third on an RBI single by outfielder Mason Snyder (Ottawa, Ill./Marquette Academy) and a run in the fourth on an RBI single to left by Ijames, the Cardinals pushed their advantage to 12-0 with a six-run sixth. The big hit in inning came off the bat of Young, who followed a single by Lucas and HBP to Ijames with a home run to left field for the first three runs of the frame.
Overall, 11 different Louisville players had at least one hit on Friday, including all nine Cardinals in the starting lineup. The 16 hits are the fourth highest total of the season for Louisville, who has at least 10 hits in 20 of 31 games this season.
On the mound for the Hoyas, Polus took the loss to fall to 1-4 on the season after allowing six runs, including four earned, on nine hits in 3.2 innings. Reliever Will Brown followed by allowing four runs on four hits in 1.1 innings, while Matt Hollenbeck gave up three runs on three hits in his 3.0 innings of relief. James Heine was the only Hoya pitcher to not allow a run on Friday with a scoreless ninth inning.
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