Baseball Drops Series Finale with NC State

Sunday, April 8

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

20-11, 6-9

NC STATE

25-6, 11-4

NC State

Louisville

Josh Stowers registered his 17th stolen base of the season in Sunday's loss.

Photo by: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics

April 08, 2018 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Video Highlights Video: Dan McDonnell Postgame Photo Gallery

Three errors by the Cardinals lead to five unearned runs in 10-3 loss to Wolfpack

By: Garett Wall

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No.11 Louisville baseball team could not recover from a slow start suffering a 10-3 loss to No.4 NC State in Sunday afternoon's series finale at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The Wolfpack (25-6, 11-4 ACC) scored a trio of unearned runs in the first inning and never trailed in winning the rubber game of the three-game set. The Cardinals (20-11, 6-9 ACC) committed three errors and surrendered five unearned runs in Sunday's loss.

Nolan Clenney came out of the NC State bullpen to pitch 3.1 innings of shutout relief to earn the victory and move to 3-0 on the season. Freshman righty Bobby Miller suffered his first collegiate loss and dropped to 3-1 overall after allowing three unearned runs with three strikeouts in three innings. At the plate, no Louisville player had more than one hit as the Cardinals had a season-high 15 strikeouts.

The Wolfpack gained control in the first inning on Sunday plating three runs on a two-out throwing error by the Cardinals. NC State loaded the bases on singles from Stephen Pitarra and Brett Kinneman and a walk to Evan Edwards before all three runners scored on the error by third baseman Justin Lavey, who fielded the groundball off the bat of Brock Deatherage but was off target with his throw to first base.

The Cardinals plated their first run of the game in the second inning after Josh Stowers scored from third on a RBI sacrifice fly to right by Drew Campbell. Stowers led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second with his 17th stolen base of the season and moved to third on a balk by Michael Bienlien before scoring his 30th run of 2018.

NC State added to the lead in the fourth inning on Kinneman's two-out, three-run homer. Following walks to Terrell Tatum and Pitarra, Kinneman connected on a 3-1 pitch from lefty Reid Detmers sending it beyond the right field wall for his 13th home run of the season and a 6-1 advantage.

The Wolfpack increased the margin with two more unearned runs in the seventh inning. After a fielding error by the Cardinals started the inning, NC State plated its two runs on RBI singles from Edwards and Patrick Bailey for the 8-1 cushion.

NC State closed its scoring with two more runs in the eighth inning as Kinneman delivered a RBI groundout and Pitarra scored on a delayed double steal. Louisville added two runs in the ninth inning on a RBI double by Ben Bianco and a RBI single from Tyler Fitzgerald.

Up next, the Cardinals host Northern Kentucky on Tuesday at 6 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium.

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

2018 LOUISVILLE BASEBALL TICKETS
Season ticket packages as well as single game tickets for the 2018 University of Louisville baseball season are on sale now and 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.