No. 4 Cardinals Even Wake Forest Series with 11-6 Win

Saturday, March 17

Winston-Salem, NC

4:00 PM

University of Louisville

16-3, 3-2

Wake Forest

8-11, 3-2

Louisville

Wake Forest

Tyler Fitzgerald had three hits and two RBIs in Saturday's win at Wake Forest.

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

March 17, 2018 | Baseball

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Fitzgerald, Stowers hit back-to-back home runs in game-changing fifth inning for Louisville

By: Garett Wall

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Sophomore Tyler Fitzgerald had three hits, including a home run to ignite a pivotal five-run fifth inning, as the No. 4 Louisville baseball team evened the weekend series at Wake Forest with Saturday afternoon's 11-6 win at David F. Couch Ballpark.

With his squad facing a 6-2 deficit, Fitzgerald's one-out solo home run provided the lift needed for the Cardinals (16-3, 3-2 ACC), who scored the game's final nine runs for their ninth comeback win this season. A native of Rochester, Illinois, Fitzgerald equaled a career high in hits finishing 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored. Junior Josh Stowers was 2-for-4 with his second home run of the season, a solo shot immediately following Fitzgerald's blast in the fifth inning.

Sophomore Logan Wyatt went 2-for-4 with one RBI and scored three runs, while junior Devin Mann added a double, one walk, two RBIs and two runs scored. Sophomore Justin Lavey chipped in with a single, one walk and two RBIs.

On the mound, junior righthander Bryan Hoeing came out of the bullpen for 3.1 innings of shutout relief with three strikeouts and just two hits to earn the win and move to 3-1 on the season. Junior righty Sam Bordner registered his eighth save of the season twirling two shutout innings of relief with two strikeouts. Saturday's outing marked the ninth scoreless appearance in as many stints this season for the Baltimore, Ohio native, who has a 1-0 record and 13 strikeouts in his 10.0 shutout innings of relief in 2018. Bordner has a scoreless streak of 23.0 innings dating back to last season and has allowed just two earned runs in his last 53.2 innings (0.33 ERA).

The Demon Deacons (8-11, 3-2 ACC) started fast scoring four runs in the first inning, including three unearned runs following a pair of errors by the Cardinals. After ending Friday's series-opener with a walk-off home run, DJ Poteet led off the first inning of Saturday's game with a homer to right center. An error on a groundball allowed the second run of the inning to score before a two-out, two-run double from Michael Ludowig pushed the advantage to 4-0.

Louisville plated its first run of the game in the second inning on a two-out RBI single by Fitzgerald to score Wyatt, who singled and moved to third on a double from sophomore Drew Campbell earlier in the frame. The Cardinals cut the margin to 4-2 in the top of the third inning as Stowers scored on a RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of Mann.

Wake Forest answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to push the lead to 6-2. Bobby Seymour delivered the first run with a solo home run down the right field line before Ludowig added a RBI single up the middle to plate Chris Lanzilli later in the inning.

The Cardinals gained their first lead of the day erupting for five runs in the fifth inning against righty starter Morgan McSweeney. The scoring started with back-to-back solo home runs from Fitzgerald and Stowers. Fitzgerald crushed a 1-1 offering sending it over the left field wall before Stowers sent 1-2 pitch out of the ballpark to right center.

Later in the inning, Wyatt pulled the Cardinals closer with his RBI single up the middle to send Snider home for the third run of the inning. After an error by the Demon Deacons allowed Wyatt to move to second, he followed Mann home moments later on a RBI single up the middle by Lavey to give Louisville a 7-6 advantage.

The Cardinals ended any hope of a late rally by Wake Forest with a four-run ninth inning. Fitzgerald scored the first run of the inning on a wild pitch before Mann connected on a RBI double to center to plate Adam Elliott. Back-to-back bases loaded walks to freshman Lucas Dunn and sophomore Ethan Stringer drove in the final two runs of the game.

No. 4 Louisville and Wake Forest will conclude the weekend series with the rubber game on Sunday at 11 a.m., ET.

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

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