No. 24 Baseball Drops Series Finale with Indiana State

Sunday, April 29

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

29-14

INDIANA STATE

21-19

Indiana State

Louisville

Bobby Miller twirled seven scoreless innings in Sunday's series finale with Indiana State.

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

No. 24 Baseball Drops Series Finale with Indiana State

April 29, 2018 | Baseball

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Cardinals surrender three unearned runs in the ninth inning of a 3-1 loss to the Sycamores

By: Garett Wall

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Indiana State used a three-run ninth inning to rally for a 3-1 victory and salvage the final game of the weekend series with the No. 24 Louisville baseball team on Sunday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The Sycamores (21-19) benefitted from a pair of errors by the Cardinals (29-14) in the ninth inning leading to all three runs being unearned. The final inning capped a disappointing performance for Louisville, which committed three errors overall and mustered just three hits to end its three-game winning streak.

"You're going to have days where you don't do much offensively and at times, we've been able to win some of those games this year," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "With that said, I look to the offense and as a team we have to do more for nine innings of baseball. We didn't put enough runners on base and we didn't put enough pressure on their pitching staff. Then in the ninth, we made two errors and we walked a guy and you're not going to win a one-run game in the ninth with errors and walks."

With the Cardinals holding a narrow 1-0 lead entering the ninth, Indiana State loaded the bases with its first three batters on two fielding errors and a walk. Following a strikeout by Louisville righthander Shay Smiddy for the first out of the inning, Jake Means connected on a two-run single to left field scoring pinch runner Jordan Schaffer and Clay Dungan. Jarrod Watkins followed with a RBI groundball to score CJ Huntley for the third and final run of the inning.

Louisville was retired in order in the bottom of the ninth by Tyler Grauer, who earned the win with 2.0 innings of shutout relief for the Sycamores. He followed Weston Rivers, who allowed just one run on two hits in seven innings. Lefthander Adam Elliott took the loss for the Cardinals after surrendering a pair of unearned runs without registering an out in the ninth inning.

Louisville was unable to take advantage of another terrific start by freshman Bobby Miller, who had six strikeouts and scattered five hits in seven scoreless innings. In his four starts this season, all in the last four weeks, Miller has a 0.74 ERA (two earned runs) with 18 strikeouts in 24.1 innings. Overall, Miller has a 4-1 record, 0.92 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 12 appearances and 39.1 innings pitched in 2018.

The Cardinals plated their only run of the game in the first inning after Tyler Fitzgerald scored from third on a RBI groundout by Devin Mann. Fitzgerald led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a single by Jake Snider and took third with his 18th stolen base before scoring on Mann's groundball to second base.

However, Louisville managed just one hit over the final eight innings of the game – a two-out single by Ben Bianco in the eighth inning. The three hits for the Cardinals were a season-low.

Up next, Louisville takes to the road for a midweek visit to Vanderbilt in the annual Battle of the Barrel on Tuesday at 7 p.m., ET in Nashville, Tenn.

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

2018 LOUISVILLE BASEBALL TICKETS
Single game tickets for the 2018 University of Louisville baseball season can be purchased online at GoCards.com/bsbtickets, by phone at 502-GO-CARDS or by visiting the Louisville Cardinals Ticket Office, located near Gate 2 at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (2800 South Floyd Street) on weekdays from 9 a.m., until 5 p.m., ET.