Cardinals Rally for Series-Clinching Win Over Seminoles

Sunday, May 10

JIM PATTERSON STADIUM

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

40-12, 23-4

No. 7 FLORIDA STATE

37-16, 17-10

Florida State

Louisville

Cardinals Rally for Series-Clinching Win Over Seminoles

May 10, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

May 10, 2015

Box Score | Photo Gallery

Box Score (PDF)

CardsTV Postgame Interviews: Dan McDonnell | Will Smith | Nick Solak | Zack Burdi

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Powered by a pair of late inning home runs from Nick Solak and Will Smith, the No. 2 Louisville baseball team overcame a five-run deficit for a 6-5 series-clinching win over No. 7 Florida State on Sunday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.

With the two runners on base and the Cardinals (40-12, 23-4 ACC) trailing 5-2 in the seventh inning, Solak (Woodridge, Ill.) hammered a 2-1 offering from Seminoles (37-16, 17-10 ACC) reliever Cobi Johnson for his second home run of the season. After Solak pulled Louisville even, Smith pushed them ahead for good an inning later connecting on a 1-1 pitch from Alec Byrd sending it over the wall in left center for his first career home run.

From there, sophomore righthander Zack Burdi (Downers Grove, Ill.), who entered the game an inning earlier for a scoreless eighth, worked through the top of the Florida State lineup in the ninth inning to earn the win and improve to 4-0 on the season. The Senior Day victory clinched Louisville's ninth straight ACC series victory and their 11th straight series win overall.

Solak finished the afternoon 2-for-4 at the plate and scored twice as the Cardinals finished with a 9-4 edge in hits against the Seminoles. Freshman Blake Tiberi (Taylor Mill, Ky.) was 2-of-4 with a run driven in, while senior Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky.) added a single, one RBI and scored once.

A day after Louisville clinched its first ACC Atlantic Division title, the Seminoles struck first with a two-out, two-run single from Darren Miller to plate John Sansone and Quincy Nieporte in the first inning. After a walk to Sansone and a single by Nieporte, both players advanced on a balk by Louisville sophomore lefty Josh Rogers (New Albany, Ind.) before scoring on the single from Miller.

Florida State extended the lead to 5-0 in the sixth inning with a trio of runs after loading the bases with no outs. Nieporte led off with a double down the line and was followed by a walk to Chris Marconsini and an infield single from Miller. Ben DeLuzio drove in Nieporte with a RBI groundout off Louisville freshman righty Sean Leland (Orland Park, Ill.) for the first run of the inning. Taylor Walls added an RBI sacrifice fly to right to send Marconsini home before a wild pitch sent Miller home for the final run of the inning.

The Cardinals started their comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning on a pair of two-out RBI singles from Lucas and Tiberi. After leading off the inning by reaching base and advancing to second on a throwing error by Walls at shortstop, Solak was driven home on a single into left by Lucas off FSU reliever Bryant Holtmann. Moments later, after Lucas had moved to second on throwing error by the Seminoles, Tiberi singled through the right side of the infield to score Lucas and cut the deficit to 5-2.

Louisville's pivotal seventh inning at the plate started with a one-out walk by freshman Devin Hairston (Lexington, Ky.) on a 3-2 pitch from Johnson. Senior Sutton Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.) followed by reaching base when he was hit by a 3-2 offering from Johnson setting the stage for Solak, who connected for his second game-tying home run in a series-deciding game in a span of seven days.

Byrd was charged with the loss and dropped to 5-1 on the season after allowing the game-winning run and one hit in 1.1 innings of relief. For the Cardinals, Rogers earned a no-decision after allowing four runs on just three this with seven strikeouts and five walks in 5.0+ innings.

Up next, the Cardinals will host Vanderbilt on Tuesday at 6 p.m., ET in the final regular season game of the season at Jim Patterson Stadium. Admission is free for the game, which will be televised by ESPN3 and aired on 93.9 The Ville.

Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.

Louisville Postgame Notes
? Prior to Sunday's game, Louisville honored senior players Brandon Alphin, Zach Lucas, Mike White and Sutton Whiting and senior manager Brandon Scherling.

? The Cardinals improved to 25-5 at home this season and are 273-87 (.758 winning percentage) all-time at Jim Patterson Stadium since its opening in 2005.

? Sunday marked the19th come-from-behind win of the season for Louisville.

? The five-run deficit was the second largest the Cardinals have overcome for a win this season behind only the seven-run difference (8-1) in the 14-8 win against Arkansas State on Feb. 21.

? Sunday's win clinched Louisville's fourth straight 40-win season and the eighth in nine seasons under the direction of head coach Dan McDonnell.

? The series-clinching victory on Sunday was the 399th career win for McDonnell, who improved to 399-171 (.700 winning percentage) in his ninth season at the helm.

? Louisville won its 11th straight series against a nationally ranked opponent.

? The Cardinals have won 134 straight games when entering the ninth inning with a lead.

? Nick Solak has four career home runs with three of those either tying the score or giving Louisville a lead.

? With his two scoreless innings of relief on Sunday, Zack Burdi lowered his season ERA to 0.93.

? Sutton Whiting leads a group of four Louisville players hitting at .323 or higher with a team-leading .340 average. Corey Ray is next at .332 and is followed by Solak at .327 and Brendan McKay at .323.

? Ray leads the team with 11 home runs, 47 RBI and 28 stolen bases.