Louisville Drops First ACC Series with 6-3 Loss at Miami

Saturday, March 19

Coral Gables, FL

8:00 PM

University of Louisville

15-4, 3-2

Miami

16-3, 4-1

Louisville

Miami (FL)

Louisville Drops First ACC Series with 6-3 Loss at Miami

March 19, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

Fitch goes 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI for the Cardinals

By: Garett Wall

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The fourth-ranked Louisville baseball team suffered its first ever Atlantic Coast Conference series loss dropping its second straight game at No. 5 Miami with Saturday night's 6-3 defeat at Alex Rodriguez Field.

The Cardinals (15-4, 3-2 ACC) had won 11 straight ACC series entering the weekend highlighted by taking all 10 series during their debut season in the conference in 2015 while also winning last weekend's 2016 opener against Notre Dame. The Hurricanes (16-3, 4-1 ACC) extended their winning streak to five games with Saturday's victory.

Louisville finished with a 9-8 advantage in hits but left six runners on base, hit into one double-play and allowed two unearned runs on two errors. Sophomore catcher Colby Fitch paced the way for the Cardinals finishing 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, while junior second baseman Nick Solak was 2-of-3 and has reached base safely in 31 straight games. On the mound, sophomore lefthander Brendan McKay suffered his first loss the season and dropped to 4-1 overall after allowing three earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and five walks in 5.1 innings.

Lefty Michael Mediavilla earned the win for Miami and improved to 4-0 on the season after allowing just one run on five hits with four strikeouts and one walk in seven innings. Righty Bryan Garcia earned his seventh save of the season surrendering one run on two hits with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings of relief.

Miami struck first on Saturday night after outfielder Jacob Heyward connected for his second home run of the season sending a two-run shot out to left field in the fourth inning. Catcher Zack Collins earned a one-out walk and scored on Heyward's homer on a 3-2 pitch from McKay.

The Cardinals cut the deficit in half in the top of the fifth when Fitch drove in McKay with a RBI single to center for the first run of the night against Mediavilla. McKay led off the inning with a double to left center and advanced to third on a flyout to center by sophomore third baseman Blake Tiberi.

The Hurricanes answered with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of Collins to score Peter Crocitto. The inning started with a single to by Crocitto, who advanced to second on a fielding error by the Cardinals on a sacrifice bunt by outfielder Carl Chester. After advancing to third on a successful sac bunt by first baseman Christopher Barr, Crocitto easily scored on the deep flyout to left by Collins.

Miami pushed across another run in the sixth inning on a RBI sacrifice fly to center by Randy Batista to score Willie Abreu for the 4-1 cushion. Abreu reached base with a one-out double down the left field line off McKay and took third on a wild pitch by sophomore righty reliever Lincoln Henzman before scoring.

Louisville cut the deficit to 4-2 in the eighth inning when junior outfielder Colin Lyman tripled down the right field line and then scored on a RBI sacrifice fly to center by junior outfielder Corey Ray. The RBI was the team-leading 20th of the season for Ray.

However, that was as close as the Cardinals would get as Miami plated two runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach. Abreu led off with a double to left center before scoring on a throwing error by the Cardinals as they attempted to field a bunt by Edgar Michelangeli. Later in the inning, Michelangeli scored on a RBI single by Chester. The Cardinals scored the final run of the game in the ninth on a RBI double down the left field line by Tiberi to score senior first baseman Danny Rosenbaum.

The Cardinals and Hurricanes will conclude their series Sunday at 12:30 p.m., ET on ESPNU. The weekend finale was originally set for 2:30 p.m., but was changed due to inclement weather forecasts.

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