Monday, June 3
LOUISVILLE, KY
1:00 PM
University of Louisville
47-16
4
vs
3
Illinois State
36-26
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Illinois State
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
2
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2
Louisville
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
4
7
1
Photo by: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics
Cardinals Walk Off Illinois State, Capture Regional Title
June 03, 2019 | Baseball
Alex Binelas’ RBI single gave Louisville a 4-3 victory over Illinois State on Monday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Alex Binelas singled back through the middle with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Louisville baseball team a 4-3 walk-off victory over Illinois State and the Louisville Regional title on Monday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Louisville (47-16) will now advance to its eighth Super Regional in program history and the sixth in the last seven seasons. The Cardinals will take on the winner of East Carolina and Campbell, who play a decisive game seven on Monday evening.
"Our team showed a lot of toughness," head coach Dan McDonnell said. "I'm most proud of that. They say the stars have to line-up in order to have success, you're probably not going to be real successful be able to handle the curveballs and the challenges and we did I give them a lot of credit like so I'm super proud of them and happy to be in this position."
It looked as if the Cardinals were going to finish off the regional championship smoothly heading into the ninth inning with a 3-1 advantage. However, that would prove not to be the case.
Michael Kirian struck out the first batter he faced in the ninth before giving up a one-out single and allowing the tying run to come to the plate. A groundball to shortstop retired the lead runner and brought the Cardinals one out away from advancing.
The next batter lined a ball to centerfield that was misplayed, scooting out near the warning track and allowing the runner from first to score and the tying run to end up on third base. The next hitter singled to right to tie the game up, silencing the crowd of nearly 3,000 at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Kirian showed his resolve by striking out the next man up, but the onus fell on the Louisville offense in the bottom half of the inning.
Justin Lavey drew a leadoff walk to start the Cardinals' half of the frame. Trey Leonard then laid down a bunt and Illinois State attempted to throw Lavey out at second. Lavey was originally called out on the field, but replay review overturned the call, giving UofL a pair of runners with nobody out.
After a pitching change, Henry Davis bunted the runners to second and third, and Logan Wyatt was intentionally walked to load the bases. Tyler Fitzgerald rolled over on a groundball to third, but the potential winning run was thrown out at the plate. Binelas then dug in and lined the first pitch he saw back through the middle, which was deflected by the pitcher but still ended up in centerfield for the game-winning hit.
Kirian improved to 3-1 on the season, allowing a pair of unearned runs in his one inning of work. Nick Bennett got the start for the Cardinals on Monday, and faced the minimum over his two innings. Bryan Hoeing took the ball next and held the Redbirds to just one run across five innings, striking out six. Jared Poland then added a scoreless eighth before Kirian took the ball in the ninth.
The Cardinals jumped on the scoreboard first on Monday, plating a run in the very first inning. An error and a walk put a pair of runners on, and Jake Snider singled on the infield allowing the game's opening run to score.
Illinois State (36-26) knotted the game up at one apiece in the fourth and the game held at one until the seventh. With two away in the seventh, Zeke Pinkham worked his way back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk. Trey Leonard then pinch-ran for him and moved to second on a wild pitch. Zach Britton cashed in the run-scoring opportunity with a pinch-hit single into right, pushing the Cardinals in front.
Louisville later added an insurance run on Snider's second double of the ballgame in the eighth. Snider was 3-for-4 at the plate on Monday and was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player.
The Cardinals had eight players named to the All-Louisville Regional Team. Pinkham, Lavey, Fitzgerald, Binelas, Snider, Drew Campbell, Danny Oriente and Luke Smith were all voted to the team.
Louisville (47-16) will now advance to its eighth Super Regional in program history and the sixth in the last seven seasons. The Cardinals will take on the winner of East Carolina and Campbell, who play a decisive game seven on Monday evening.
"Our team showed a lot of toughness," head coach Dan McDonnell said. "I'm most proud of that. They say the stars have to line-up in order to have success, you're probably not going to be real successful be able to handle the curveballs and the challenges and we did I give them a lot of credit like so I'm super proud of them and happy to be in this position."
It looked as if the Cardinals were going to finish off the regional championship smoothly heading into the ninth inning with a 3-1 advantage. However, that would prove not to be the case.
Michael Kirian struck out the first batter he faced in the ninth before giving up a one-out single and allowing the tying run to come to the plate. A groundball to shortstop retired the lead runner and brought the Cardinals one out away from advancing.
The next batter lined a ball to centerfield that was misplayed, scooting out near the warning track and allowing the runner from first to score and the tying run to end up on third base. The next hitter singled to right to tie the game up, silencing the crowd of nearly 3,000 at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Kirian showed his resolve by striking out the next man up, but the onus fell on the Louisville offense in the bottom half of the inning.
Justin Lavey drew a leadoff walk to start the Cardinals' half of the frame. Trey Leonard then laid down a bunt and Illinois State attempted to throw Lavey out at second. Lavey was originally called out on the field, but replay review overturned the call, giving UofL a pair of runners with nobody out.
After a pitching change, Henry Davis bunted the runners to second and third, and Logan Wyatt was intentionally walked to load the bases. Tyler Fitzgerald rolled over on a groundball to third, but the potential winning run was thrown out at the plate. Binelas then dug in and lined the first pitch he saw back through the middle, which was deflected by the pitcher but still ended up in centerfield for the game-winning hit.
Kirian improved to 3-1 on the season, allowing a pair of unearned runs in his one inning of work. Nick Bennett got the start for the Cardinals on Monday, and faced the minimum over his two innings. Bryan Hoeing took the ball next and held the Redbirds to just one run across five innings, striking out six. Jared Poland then added a scoreless eighth before Kirian took the ball in the ninth.
The Cardinals jumped on the scoreboard first on Monday, plating a run in the very first inning. An error and a walk put a pair of runners on, and Jake Snider singled on the infield allowing the game's opening run to score.
Illinois State (36-26) knotted the game up at one apiece in the fourth and the game held at one until the seventh. With two away in the seventh, Zeke Pinkham worked his way back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk. Trey Leonard then pinch-ran for him and moved to second on a wild pitch. Zach Britton cashed in the run-scoring opportunity with a pinch-hit single into right, pushing the Cardinals in front.
Louisville later added an insurance run on Snider's second double of the ballgame in the eighth. Snider was 3-for-4 at the plate on Monday and was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player.
The Cardinals had eight players named to the All-Louisville Regional Team. Pinkham, Lavey, Fitzgerald, Binelas, Snider, Drew Campbell, Danny Oriente and Luke Smith were all voted to the team.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kirian, Michael (3-1)
L: Gilmore, Jacob (2-2)
Batting:
RBI: Butler, Joe 2
SH: Libman, Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Parola, Derek 1 ; Libman, Jordan 1 ; Aeilts, Joe 1
SB: Butler, Joe 1
Batting:
2B: Snider, Jake 2
RBI: Britton, Zach 1 ; Binelas, Alex 1 ; Snider, Jake 2
SH: Dunn, Lucas 1 ; Davis, Henry 1 ; Pinkham, Zeke 1 ; Leonard, Trey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wyatt, Logan 1 ; Fitzgerald, Tyler 1 ; Leonard, Trey 2
SB: Fitzgerald, Tyler 2 ; Snider, Jake 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
3
RBI
2
AB
1
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
LHP
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RHP
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LHP
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INF
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/ Baseball
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/ Baseball
INF/RHP
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RHP
/ BaseballOF
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1B
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