Kiekhefer Krush Evens Pizza Bowl with 10-8 Win
October 18, 2014 | Baseball
Blake Tiberi had two hits, two RBI and scored twice in the win on Friday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sophomore Michael Bollmer was 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI as the Kiekhefer Krush evened the 2014 Pizza Bowl with a 10-8 victory over Vrable's Victors in game two of the best-of-three series on Friday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The deciding third game in the ninth edition of the annual series to close out the Louisville baseball team's fall workouts is set for Saturday at 11 a.m., ET. The game will precede the Louisville football team's Homecoming matchup against NC State next door to the ballpark at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
Bollmer added a pair of singles to go with his three-run homer in the sixth inning on Friday. Redshirt freshman Blake Tiberi chipped in going 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, while freshman Brendan McKay was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and one run at the plate. On the mound, McKay had seven strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work in the starting role.
Sophomore Will Smith led the Victors on Friday going 3-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI and two runs scored in the loss. Sophomore Nick Solak, who had the game-winning hit on Wednesday, added three singles and scored a run on Friday, while junior Jimmy Faul was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.
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.
Junior righties Kyle Funkhouser and Anthony Kidston will get the starting nods in Saturday's series finale. The start on Saturday will serve as 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).
FOLLOWING THE CARDINALS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
