No. 29 Louisville Wins Third Straight Battle of the Barrel

Tuesday, May 1

Nashville, TN

7:00 PM

University of Louisville

30-14

Vanderbilt

25-19

Louisville

Vanderbilt

Reid Detmers worked a career long 5.1 innings to earn the victory at Vanderbilt on Tuesday.

Photo by: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics

No. 29 Louisville Wins Third Straight Battle of the Barrel

May 01, 2018 | Baseball

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Detmers pitches effectively into the sixth inning for the victory against Vanderbilt

By: Garett Wall

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Freshman Reid Detmers provided a strong start and the offense erupted for a four-run second inning as the No. 29 Louisville baseball team earned its third straight win in the Battle of the Barrel with Tuesday night's 8-4 triumph over No. 15 Vanderbilt at Hawkins Field.

With their three consecutive wins in the series, the Cardinals (30-14) improved to 4-3 against the Commodores (25-19) since the inception of the Battle of the Barrel in 2012. Including postseason games, Louisville has won six of the last eight against Vanderbilt, including five straight victories in Nashville.

Detmers allowed just one run on four hits with five strikeouts in a career long 5.1 innings to register the win and improve to 3-1 on the season. In his last two starts, the lefthander has wins against the No. 15 Commodores and No. 6 Kentucky combining for just two earned runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts in 10.0 innings.

Tyler Fitzgerald paced a balanced night for the Cardinals at the plate as the sophomore had two doubles, one RBI, one walk and scored three runs. Danny Oriente was 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs and Justin Lavey had two hits and scored once. Josh Stowers doubled, walked, had one RBI and scored a run, while Jake Snider singled, walked, drove in a run and scored once. Logan Wyatt added a pivotal two-run double and walked once.

The Cardinals, who started Tuesday with a visit to Norton Children's Hospital in Louisville prior to departing for Nashville, opened the scoring in the first after Fitzgerald scored from third on a RBI sacrifice fly by Stowers. Fitzgerald led off the game with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Snider and took third on his 19th stolen base before scoring on the fly ball to center off the bat of Stowers.

Louisville added to the lead with a four-run second inning while chasing Commodores lefty starter Jake Eder. Zeke Pinkham earned a one-out walk and moved to second on a single by Lavey before scoring the first run of the inning on a RBI double down the right field line by Fitzgerald. After a walk to Snider loaded the bases, Devin Mann drove Lavey home with a RBI sacrifice fly to right field off reliever Justin Willis. Wyatt followed with his two-run double down the right field line plating Fitzgerald and Snider for the 5-0 cushion.

Vanderbilt scored its first run of the night in the third inning on a two-out RBI double to left center from Ethan Paul sending Alonzo Jones home. The Cardinals answered with a run in the fifth inning after Stowers scored on a RBI sacrifice fly by Oriente. Stowers led off with a double down the left field line and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Oriente's fly ball to center field.

The advantage moved to 7-1 for the Cardinals in the seventh on a two-out RBI triple from Oriente to score Mann, who earned a leadoff walk to begin the inning. Louisville pushed across its final run of the game in the eighth inning when Fitzgerald scored on a RBI single by Snider.

Vanderbilt plated a run in the bottom of the eighth on a RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Pat DeMarco to send Paul home. The Commodores added their final pair of runs in the ninth on a pinch-hit two-run homer by Stephen Scott.

Up next, No. 29 Louisville stays on the road for a weekend visit to Boston College starting Friday at 6 p.m., ET. The Cardinals and Eagles are also scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m., and Sunday at noon.

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.