University of Louisville
25-8
Northern Kentucky
8-23
No. 12 Cardinals Roll on Bark at the Park Night
April 09, 2019 | Baseball
Louisville picked up an 11-2 victory over Northern Kentucky on Tuesday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Louisville (25-8) tallied double digit runs for the 11th time this season, as the Cardinals improved to 8-1 in midweek contests.
Luke Smith (4-0) stayed perfect on the season with three scoreless innings on the day. The righthander struck out four and allowed just two hits. Shay Smiddy, Adam Elliott, Kerry Wright and Carter Lohman all kept NKU off the board in their relief outings.
The scoring was slow through the first four innings on Tuesday night, with the Cardinals tallying single runs in the first and third innings. Tyler Fitzgerald lined a ball to right that was lost in the sun for a RBI triple in the opening frame, while Logan Wyatt singled Fitzgerald home two innings later to make it 2-0.
Northern Kentucky (8-23) plated an unearned run on a groundout in the fifth, but the Cardinals answered right back in the bottom half.
With runners on second and third, Alex Binelas delivered a two-run double to the wall in left to stretch the margin to three, and then came around to score on a balk and wild pitch to make it a 5-1 game.
The Norse added their second and final run of the game in the sixth before Louisville put the game away in the latter stages.
Zach Britton brought a run home in the seventh with his second double of the night and later scored on a groundball from Jared Poland. Drew Campbell got in on the act with a sacrifice fly later in the frame and a wild pitch allowed Trey Leonard to touch the plate.
The Cardinals added two more in the eighth on Wyatt's sacrifice fly and another wild pitch.
Fitzgerald led the offense on Tuesday with a 3-for-5 day with three extra-base hits. Britton was 2-for-4 with two extra-base knocks of his own. Wyatt and Zeke Pinkham each drew three walks, marking the first time two Cardinals have drawn three walks in the same game since April 30, 2017 when Colby Fitch and Devin Mann did it against Toledo.
Louisville heads on the road this weekend for an ACC Atlantic Division series at No. 2 North Carolina State. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., ET in Raleigh, N.C.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Smith, Luke (4-0)
L: MERCER, Proctor (1-3)
Batting:
2B: MURRAY, Jake 1
RBI: LUTY, Collin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HEDGES, Sam 1 ; FISHER, Noah 1
SB: HAUETER, Will 1 ; BACON, Andrew 1
HBP: HAUETER, Will 1
Batting:
2B: Fitzgerald, Tyler 2 ; Britton, Zach 2 ; Binelas, Alex 1
3B: Fitzgerald, Tyler 1
RBI: Fitzgerald, Tyler 1 ; Wyatt, Logan 2 ; Britton, Zach 1 ; Binelas, Alex 2 ; Poland, Jared 1 ; Campbell, Drew 1
SF: Wyatt, Logan 1 ; Campbell, Drew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dunn, Lucas 1 ; Stringer, Ethan 1 ; Fitzgerald, Tyler 2 ; Wyatt, Logan 2 ; Britton, Zach 2 ; Binelas, Alex 1 ; Poland, Jared 1 ; Leonard, Trey 1
SB: Dunn, Lucas 1 ; Wyatt, Logan 1 ; Leonard, Trey 1 ; Campbell, Drew 1
HBP: Binelas, Alex 1
