Cardinals Stumble in Loss at Clemson

Saturday, May 2

Clemson, S.C.

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

35-11, 19-3

Clemson

24-21, 13-11

Louisville

Clemson

May 02, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

May 2, 2015

Sutton Whiting had a pair of hits and scored once in Saturday's road loss at Clemson.

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

CLEMSON, S.C. - The third-ranked Louisville baseball team never got out of the gates on Saturday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in a 9-1 series-opening loss to Clemson.

The Cardinals (35-11, 19-3 ACC) surrendered three runs in the first inning to the Tigers (24-21, 13-11 ACC) while losing the first game of an ACC series for the first time. Saturday's game also marked the largest margin of defeat this season for Louisville, which looks to even the weekend series in game two on Sunday at 6:30 p.m., ET (ESPN3/93.9 The Ville).

"Clemson did things better than we did today and they simply out-played us. We had a couple of opportunities early in the game to answer their start and put some pressure on them, but we didn't do enough," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "We weren't as good as we needed to be on the mound today, but we still have to find ways to give ourselves a chance. Offensively, I felt like we had some good at-bats, but we were one hit away in several innings and the hits didn't come."

The Tigers gained command early on Saturday plating three runs in the first inning against Louisville junior righty Kyle Funkhouser (Oak Forest, Ill.). Reed Rohlman delivered the first run of the day with an infield RBI single to third base to score Eli White. Later in the inning, Chase Pinder and Weston Wilson added RBI singles for Clemson scoring Steven Duggar and Chris Okey respectively.

After a scoreless second, the home club added to its advantage in the third inning as both Rohlman and Wilson chipped in with second RBI singles of the game. Tyler Krieger scored on the single to left center by Rohlman, who later scored on the single by Wilson for the 5-0 lead.

The Cardinals broke through for their only run of the day in the sixth inning on a two-out RBI single to right center from freshman Brendan McKay (Darlington, Pa.) to score senior Sutton Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.). The inning started with a lead-off walk from Clemson starter Matthew Crownover to Whiting, who moved to second on a wild pitch and took third on a groundout before scoring to cut the deficit to 5-1.

However, Clemson ended any thoughts of comeback with a four-run seventh inning against Louisville junior righty Anthony Kidston (Defiance, Ohio). Duggar started the scoring with a RBI double before Pinder was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score the second run of the inning. Wilson drove in another run with a single into shallow left field before an error by the Cardinals allowed the final run to score.

Crownover earned the win for the Tigers and moved to 8-1 on the season after allowing one earned run on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts in seven innings. Funkhouser was charged with the loss and dropped to 6-3 after allowing five runs on seven hits in six innings.

Whiting was one of the bright spots on an otherwise tough day offensively for Louisville finishing 2-for-4 with the run scored. Senior Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky.) added a pair of hits for the Cardinals, who were out-hit 10-7 overall and left 10 runners on base.

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