No. 6 Cardinals Knock Off No. 22 Terrapins, 10-7

Saturday, February 18

Clearwater, FL (Spectrum Field)

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

2-0

Maryland

0-2

Maryland

Louisville

Lincoln Henzman had four strikeouts on Saturday to earn his fourth career save.

February 18, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Henzman twirls 2.2 innings of dominant relief; Fitch goes 2-for-4 with a triple and a RBI

By: Garett Wall

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Propelled by a pair of high-scoring innings at the plate and a dominant relief outing on the mound from Lincoln Henzman, the No. 6 Louisville baseball team earned a 10-7 victory over No. 22 Maryland on Saturday night at Spectrum Field.

After plating a run in the first inning, the Cardinals erupted for four runs in the second inning and five more in the fourth inning to improve to 2-0 during the opening weekend of the season. With the Terrapins (0-2) mounting a late charge and cutting the margin to three runs, Henzman shut the door with four strikeouts in 2.2 innings of no-hit relief to clinch the victory at the spring training home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

"You have to win all types of games, whether that's 1-0 or 2-1, or on a night when you get everything going in all three phases, but tonight we probably did two of the three phases really well. There will also be games when our pitcher don't give up any runs like last night," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "Lincoln Henzman was definitely the star of the night from the pitching staff. Offensively, I thought we really competed and we had some quality at-bats up and down the lineup."

Junior Colby Fitch paced the offense for the Cardinals finishing 2-for-4 with a triple, one RBI, one run scored and a walk. Junior Devin Hairston added two hits and one RBI, while sophomore Josh Stowers was 2-for-4 with a double, stolen base and one RBI. Sophomore Devin Mann chipped in with a double and two RBI, junior Drew Ellis connected for a solo home run and freshman Jake Snider drove in a run and scored once.

On the mound, senior righty Jake Sparger was credited with his fourth career victory after striking out three in 1.1 innings of relief. Henzman closed the game for his fourth career save, while junior righty Kade McClure had seven strikeouts and surrendered four runs in 3.2 innings to finish with a no-decision in the starting role.

Louisville struck first Saturday night as Hairston drove senior Logan Taylor home with a RBI single in the first inning. The advantage ballooned to 5-0 in the second inning, which started with solo home run off the bat of Ellis, his fourth career round-tripper and the first this season. The scoring continued with a bases loaded walk to Fitch and a RBI sacrifice fly by Mann before a wild pitch from Maryland starter Taylor Bloom allowed Taylor to score.

Maryland answered with a two-run homer in the third inning by Nick Dunn, who added a RBI single in the fourth before Brandon Gum coaxed a bases loaded walk later in the inning to pull the road side within a run. The Cardinals responded in the bottom of the fourth by scoring five runs on four hits and sending nine batters to the plate. Mann started the scoring with a RBI double to plate Fitch, who tripled to open the inning. Later in the frame, Hairston singled to right, where a fielding error by Marty Costes allowed both Mann and McKay to score. Snider followed with a RBI groundout to plate Hairston and Stowers closed the scoring with a RBI single to plate Ellis.

The Terrapins cut into the margin with a run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth. Maryland continued its charge into the seventh inning putting runners on the corners with one out. However, Henzman entered from the Louisville bullpen and halted the threat with back-to-back strikeouts of Gum and Kevin Smith.

The No. 6 Cardinals will conclude the opening weekend against Ball State on Sunday at 1 p.m., ET. Both UofL and BSU are 2-0 during the first two days of the opening weekend in Clearwater. Louisville's 2017 home-opener at Jim Patterson Stadium is set for Wednesday at 3 p.m., against Eastern Kentucky.

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