University of Louisville
No. 17 INDIANA
No. 17 Indiana Knocks Off No. 9 Louisville, 6-2
March 01, 2014 | Baseball
March 1, 2014
Freshman Nick Solak was out at the plate on a close play in the first inning of Saturday's loss to Indiana.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the first of three scheduled matchups this season between two programs that advanced to the College World Series a year ago, the ninth-ranked Louisville baseball team fell 6-2 to No. 17 Indiana on Saturday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The visiting Hoosiers (4-5), who opened the day with an 8-3 victory over Toledo at Patterson Stadium, plated four runs in the first three innings to take command in the win. Louisville (7-3), playing the first of its two games on the day, left 10 runners on base and grounded into two double plays in the loss. The two teams will resume their season series on March 19 in Bloomington before concluding the trio of games in Louisville on May 13.
Senior lefty Joey DeNato improved to 3-0 on the season for the Hoosiers after allowing only one unearned run on five hits with four strikeouts and three walks in seven innings in the starting role. For the Cardinals, sophomore righty Kyle Funkhouser (Oak Forest, Ill.) suffered his first loss of the season and dropped to 1-1 overall after allowing four earned runs on eight hits with two strikeouts in 6.2 innings.
The Hoosiers stuck first on Saturday plating an unearned run in the opening inning against Funkhouser. The Cardinals threatened in the bottom of the frame with two hits against DeNato, but Nick Solak (Woodridge, Ill.) was thrown out at home trying to score from second on a single into shallow left field by senior outfielder Jeff Gardner (Louisville, Ky.).
An inning later, Indiana pushed its advantage to 3-0 after catcher Kyle Schwarber delivered a two-out, two-run double to left center to plate outfielder Will Nolden and shortstop Nick Ramos. Moments later, the Cardinals benefited from an IU error in the bottom of the second for their first run of the game when junior shortstop Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky.) scored from third after Schwarber dropped a perfect throw from third baseman Chad Clark on an attempted force-out at the plate.
The Hoosiers added to their lead in the third inning when outfielder Craig Dedelow singled through the right side to score first baseman Sam Travis. Indiana tacked on another run in the seventh inning on a RBI infield single by Travis off the glove of Funkhouser to score Schwarber. The scoring ended for IU in the ninth with a double-steal plating Schwarber as Travis advanced to second.
The Cardinals plated their final run of the game in the bottom of the ninth on a RBI single up the middle from junior pinch hitter Mike White (East Orange, N.J.) to score freshman Colin Lyman (Algonquin, Ill.). Gardner and senior catcher Kyle Gibson (Henderson, Ky.) finished with two hits each for Louisville, which was out-hit 10-9 by the Hoosiers.
The Cardinals close the weekend on Saturday evening with their second game in two days against Toledo in a game previously scheduled for Sunday but altered due to impending inclement weather.
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