Vrable's Victors Take Pizza Bowl Opener, 2-1
October 16, 2014 | Baseball
Drew Harrington had nine strikeouts in five shutout innings in Thursday's Pizza Bowl opener.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sophomore infielder Nick Solak's RBI single in the ninth inning scored senior Sutton Whiting and lifted Vrable's Victors to a 2-1 walk-off win over the Kiekhefer Krush in Wednesday afternoon's Pizza Bowl series opener at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Krush will look to even the three-game series in game two on Friday at 3:30 p.m., ET, while Saturday's Pizza Bowl finale is scheduled for an 11 a.m., ET first pitch. It will precede the Louisville football team's Homecoming matchup against NC State next door to the ballpark at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
Solak was 2-for-3 in the game, while sophomore outfielder Colin Lyman singled and scored in the seventh inning for the Victors. For the Krush, senior infielder Zach Lucas doubled and scored in the seventh on a day when the pitching dominated the action. For the Victors, sophomore lefthander Drew Harrington was terrific striking out nine in five shutout innings in the starting role. On the other side, sophomore lefty Josh Rogers delivered seven strikeouts in his five scoreless innings as both starters finished with no-decisions.
The two teams in this year's Pizza Bowl series are guided by assistant coach Adam Vrable and former Louisville pitcher Dean Kiekhefer, a student assistant this fall and a pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. This year's Pizza Bowl also features former Louisville players as assistant coaches for each team. Assisting with the Krush are Joe Filomeno and Ty Young, while Coco Johnson and Jared Ruxer are assistants with the Victors.
Vrable's Victors include position players Drew Ellis, Jimmy Faul, Riley Jackson, Colin Lyman, Danny Rosenbaum, Will Smith, Nick Solak, Jordan Striegel, Mike White and Sutton Whiting, as well as pitchers Butch Baird, Zack Burdi, Chandler Dale, Drew Harrington, Lincoln Henzman, Anthony Kidston, Kade McClure, Jonah Philley, Alex Sears and Grant Weinmann. The Kiekhefer Krush include position players Michael Bollmer, Austin Clemons, Colby Fitch, Devin Hairston, Zach Lucas, Corey Ray, Grant Schreiver, Ryan Summers, Logan Taylor and Blake Tiberi and pitchers Brandon Alphin, Chris Elbrecht, Kyle Funkhouser, Sean Leland, Brendan McKay (also hitting), Josh Rogers, Dylan Shoffner, Jake Sparger, Robert Strader and Mac Welsh.
Game two of the Pizza Bowl on Friday will feature freshman lefty Brendan McKay and freshman righty Lincoln Henzman as the starting pitchers on each side, while junior righty Kyle Funkhouser and junior righty Anthony Kidston will get the starting nods in the series finale. Saturday will be the only scrimmage outing of the fall for Funkhouser, who has limited his innings since finishing a busy spring and summer pitching for the Cardinals' CWS club as well as the USA Collegiate National Team.
ABOUT THE PIZZA BOWL
Upon his hiring as Louisville head coach in the summer of 2006, Dan McDonnell immediately created an atmosphere of competition throughout the Cardinal baseball program. Whether it's through conditioning in the Omaha Challenge, or in preseason scrimmages, McDonnell believes in creating competitive situations to give his players numerous opportunities to prepare for what they will see during conference and postseason games.
One of the most effective ways McDonnell and his coaching staff can provide the Louisville players with those competitive, game-like situations is through the annual Pizza Bowl series. Following six weeks of fall practice sessions, the Cardinals take to the field for what started as a one-game scrimmage in the fall of 2006 and has become an ultra-competitive three-game or five-game intra-squad series. The winning team is rewarded by being served as much pizza as it would like by the losing squad, which in turn shares what is left. The Pizza Bowl series has become an exciting and highly anticipated ending to the fall for Louisville coaches, players and fans.
ABOUT LOUISVILLE BASEBALL
Louisville returns 19 letterwinners from its 2014 squad, which finished 50-17 overall, won the program's fifth regular season conference championship in six seasons and hosted NCAA postseason games for the second straight year. The Cardinals defeated Kennesaw State in the Louisville Super Regional to clinch their third CWS berth in eight seasons under the guidance of head coach Dan McDonnell. Louisville, which has hosted six different rounds of NCAA postseason baseball in the last eight years, ended the season ranked as highly as sixth in the national polls. Leading the list of returnees for Louisville in the 2015 season is junior righthanded pitcher Kyle Funkhouser, a Second Team All-American in 2014 who set a school record for wins finishing 13-3 overall with a 1.94 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 120.1 innings. The Cardinals also return senior infielder and 2014 All-Conference honoree Zach Lucas, talented starting pitchers Anthony Kidston (junior righty) and Josh Rogers (sophomore lefty).
In his eight seasons guiding the Louisville baseball program, McDonnell has placed the Cardinals among the nation's elite with the three College World Series berths, four NCAA Super Regional appearances, seven NCAA Regional bids, five conference regular season titles, two conference tournament titles, 14 All-Americans and 359 wins overall (seventh most nationally during that eight-year span).
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