Kiekhefer Krush Wins Pizza Bowl with Victory in Finale
October 18, 2014 | Baseball
The Kiekhefer Krush overcame a game one loss to win the Pizza Bowl on Saturday afternoon.
CardsTV Postgame Interview: Dan McDonnell Reviews Fall Ball at Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After dropping the first game of the 2014 Pizza Bowl on Wednesday, the Kiekhefer Krush bounced back to claim the series title with Saturday's 2-1 triumph over Vrable's Victors in the decisive third game at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Krush, who lost Wednesday's series-opener 2-1 before evening the series with a 10-8 victory on Friday, scored both runs on Saturday in a pivotal fourth inning as the pitchers dominated the final day of fall action. Sophomore Michael Bollmer and freshman Brendan McKay had RBI singles in the decisive inning for the Krush. McKay finished the game 2-for-2 at the plate with a double and two walks. For the Victors, senior Sutton Whiting was 2-for-3 with a triple and a run scored in the loss.
On the mound, junior righty Kyle Funkhouser finished with three strikeouts in three shutout innings for the win in his only appearance of the fall to lead the way for the Krush. On the other side, junior Anthony Kidston had eight strikeouts and allowed two runs in five innings in the loss.
The Victors threatened to even the score in the bottom of the ninth after Whiting led off the inning with a triple to right center. However, sophomore righty Jake Sparger answered on the mound by getting a groundout to second with the infield drawn in and a lineout double-play to third baseman Blake Tiberi, who made a diving catch on the liner before tagging the base to clinch the series.
Saturday's game completed six weeks of fall workouts for the Cardinals, who will resume full-squad preparations for the 2015 season on Jan. 23. The opening weekend of college baseball in 2015 is set for Feb. 13-15, while Louisville's complete 2015 schedule will be released later this fall.
The two teams in this year's Pizza Bowl series were 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 featured former Louisville players as assistant coaches for each team. Assisting with the Krush were Joe Filomeno and Ty Young, while Coco Johnson and Jared Ruxer were assistants with the Victors.
Vrable's Victors included 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 included 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.
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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