Cardinals Suffer First Setback with 6-3 Loss at Cincinnati

Tuesday, March 21

Cincinnati OH

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

19-1

Cincinnati

10-9

Louisville

Cincinnati

Cardinals Suffer First Setback with 6-3 Loss at Cincinnati

March 21, 2017 | Baseball

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Season-opening winning streak ends at 19 games as four-run second inning does in Louisville

By: Garett Wall

CINCINNATI, Ohio - The No. 1 Louisville baseball team had its record-setting, season-opening winning streak halted on Tuesday night with a 6-3 road loss to Cincinnati at Marge Schott Stadium.

Unable to overcome a pivotal four-run second inning for the Bearcats (10-9), the Cardinals ended their 19-game winning streak and dropped to 19-1 on the season. The nation's last unbeaten team, Louisville suffered its first midweek loss since May 12, 2015 halting a stretch of 18 consecutive victories while also ending its 12-game winning streak against Cincinnati.

"When you're on the road and you give up five runs in the first two innings, you put yourself in a tough spot. Obviously, the second inning was very frustrating for us because we gave up a couple of singles to start the inning, but after that, we had a ball that shouldn't have left the infield, an infield single and a throwing error to score the four runs," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "Even with the bad start, we had our chances to get back in the game, especially in the eighth inning, but we needed to do more with the opportunities we had at the plate."

Junior Drew Ellis was 2-for-2 with two walks and scored once, while senior Logan Taylor added a pair of hits. Senior Colin Lyman doubled and drove in two runs and junior Brendan McKay chipped in with a double and scored twice. Highlighting the pitching staff on Tuesday was sophomore lefthander Adam Wolf, who registered three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of perfect relief, while sophomore righty Riley Thompson added two strikeouts in a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.

The host Bearcats opened the scoring on Tuesday plating a run in the first inning on a two-out RBI single to center by Eric Santiago to score Connor McVey. Louisville evened the score in the top of the second inning as Ellis walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and stole third before scoring on a throwing error by UC catcher Joey Thomas.

Cincinnati regained the lead for good in the bottom of the second plating four runs, including three earned, on four hits and one error. Kyle Mottice delivered the first shot of the inning with a two-run single off the outstretched glove of junior shortstop Devin Hairston and into left field allowing Manny Rodriguez and Ryan Noda to score. McVey followed with an infield RBI single to plate Mottice for the third run. A two-out throwing error by the Cardinals allowed the final run of the inning to score.

Louisville cut into the deficit with a run in the top of the fourth inning when McKay doubled, moved to third on a single by Ellis and scored on a RBI groundball off the bat of Lyman. The Bearcats answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI single to right by Treg Haberkorn to score R.J. Thompson and push the margin to 6-2.

The Cardinals scored their final run of the night in the eighth inning on a RBI double to center field by Lyman to send McKay home. Louisville threatened for more in the inning with runners at second and third and no outs, but back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout ended the chance.

No. 1 Louisville continues its four-game road swing with a weekend series at ACC foe NC State starting Friday at 6:30 p.m., ET.

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