No. 8 Louisville Baseball Tallies Fourth Straight Win

Wednesday, March 6

LOUISVILLE, KY

3:00 PM

University of Louisville

9-3

Morehead State

9-2

Morehead State

Louisville

Photo by: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics

March 06, 2019 | Baseball

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Cardinals defeat Morehead State 10-9 on Wednesday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

By: Stephen Williams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The eighth-ranked Louisville baseball team picked up its fourth consecutive victory with a 10-9 defeat of Morehead State on Wednesday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The midweek contest featured six lead changes, but the Cardinals grabbed the lead for good in the sixth inning and made it stand up the rest of the way.

Jared Poland (2-1) earned his second victory of the season with excellent work out of the bullpen. The freshman stepped onto the mound in a seven-all game with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth and induced a double play and strikeout that limited the damage to just one run. Poland then worked a perfect sixth and pitched around two baserunners in the seventh to complete his outing.

Meanwhile, the Cardinal offense surged in front for good in its half of the sixth. Tyler Fitzgerald was hit by and pitch with one out and Logan Wyatt followed with a walk. A double steal moved them to second and third and Danny Oriente cashed in the run-scoring chance with a groundout that tied the game at eight. Drew Campbell then came up with what proved to be the game-winning hit, guiding a single through the left side to score Wyatt and give the Cardinals a 9-8 lead.

Louisville tacked on another run on a Lucas Dunn RBI single in the seventh and turned the ball over to Michael Kirian to start the eighth. The southpaw retired all four hitters he faced, two via strikeout, and Bobby Miller picked up the final two outs of the game for his second save.

Dunn and Campbell each had three-hit days at the plate to lead the Cardinals' offensive attack on Wednesday. Seven of nine Louisville starters had at least one hit on the day. The Cardinals finished the day with nine stolen bases, their highest total since swiping 10 on Feb. 20, 2013 against Eastern Kentucky.

UofL jumped on the board first on Wednesday behind a RBI single from Fitzgerald in the bottom of the first inning. Morehead State (9-2) answered back with two in the second before the Cardinals added two of their own in the third. Oriente legged out an infield single with two outs to score Fitzgerald, and the ball got away from the shortstop allowing Wyatt to cross the plate as well.

As the game continued to seesaw, MSU scored three in the fourth to edge back in front, but Louisville responded with four more in the bottom half to regain the lead. Dunn and Wyatt each had run-scoring hits during the frame.

Morehead State took the lead back with three runs in the fifth before the Cardinals' final push gave them the lead for good in the sixth.

Louisville opens up ACC play this weekend against Boston College at Jim Patterson Stadium. First pitch in Friday's series opener is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., ET.