University of Louisville
7-3
Akron
1-7
Louisville Offense Explodes in Doubleheader Sweep
March 05, 2022 | Baseball
The Cardinals scored 42 runs in a pair of wins over Akron.
Louisville (8-3) turned in 20-6 and 22-9 victories to finish off the weekend sweep and run its winning streak to five.
The 42 runs were a school record for a doubleheader, breaking the previous mark of 41 in a pair of wins over Chicago State on March 30, 1977. Saturday marked the third time the Cardinals have scored at least 20 runs in consecutive games and the first time since 1991.
Louisville finished the day with 42 runs on 36 hits, pounding out seven doubles, four triples and nine home runs.
Despite the final score, the day got off to a slow start as Akron (1-8) led 4-0 through three innings in game one. After the Cardinals got a run in the bottom of the fourth, the Zips threatened to add on in the fifth. Akron loaded the bases with nobody out chasing Riley Phillips from the game. Ryan Hawks entered and escaped the jam with two pop outs and a strikeout.
Louisville used the momentum from Hawks and exploded for 11 runs in the fifth. Christian Knapczyk hit the first home run of his career to make it a 4-3 game before Dalton Rushing tied it with a run-scoring single and JT Benson put the Cardinals in front for good with a two-run triple.
Ben Metzinger capped off the 11-run frame with a grand slam, an inning in which the Cardinals sent 16 men to the plate with 11 runs on nine hits, including hitting for the cycle as a team twice.
The Cardinals cruised from there with three more runs in the sixth and a five spot in the seventh, with Ben Bianco sending a line drive out to left for a two-run homer in the seventh.
Ryan Hawks (2-1) earned the win in game one, allowed two runs over three innings out of the bullpen. Carson Liggett and Carter Lohman each turned in scoreless innings.
Just as it was in game one, Akron took the early lead in Saturday's nightcap with two runs across in the first. Louisville answered with Metzinger's second home run of the game in the bottom half, but the Zips got the run back in the second.
Bianco pulled Louisville within one in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice fly and Logan Beard launched his first career homer, a three-run shot, to give the Cardinals the lead.
Three more runs came home for the Cardinals in the fourth, but Akron battled back to make it an 8-7 game with four runs in the sixth.
Louisville immediately answered though, putting the game away behind nine more runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Bianco and Cameron Masterman each hit three-run homers in the inning, while Rushing backed up Masterman's long ball with one of his one, the second time the two have gone back-to-back this season.
Beard punctuated the night in the eighth, crushing a three-run blast out to left-centerfield for his second home run of the contest.
Cameron Robinson (1-0) picked up the win on the mound, pitching 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Knapczyk went 5-for-10 out of the leadoff spot during the doubleheader, scoring six runs and driving in three. Beard finished the day 4-for-8 with two home runs, five runs scored and seven driven in.
Louisville will now turn its attention to TCU, with a midweek contest against the eighth-ranked Horned Frogs. First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for noon ET at Jim Patterson Stadium.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hawks, Ryan (2-1)
L: Taed Heydinger (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Bryant Shellenbarger 1
3B: Cameron Benson 1
HR: Cameron Benson 1
RBI: Cameron Benson 4 ; Nick Arrivo 1
SF: Nick Arrivo 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaito Hara 2 ; Cameron Benson 2 ; Bryant Shellenbarger 1 ; Breydan Cavey 1
CS: Jerry Reinhart 1
PO: Jerry Reinhart 1
Batting:
2B: Masterman, Cameron 2 ; Westcott, Drake 1 ; Seng, Chris 1
3B: Benson, JT 1 ; Usher, Levi 1
HR: Knapczyk, Christian 1 ; Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Bianco, Ben 1
RBI: Knapczyk, Christian 3 ; Metzinger, Ben 5 ; Rushing, Dalton 2 ; Westcott, Drake 2 ; Bode, Austin 1 ; Benson, JT 3 ; Usher, Levi 1 ; Bianco, Ben 2 ; Beard, Logan 1
SF: Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Benson, JT 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Knapczyk, Christian 4 ; Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Masterman, Cameron 2 ; Humphrey, Isaac 1 ; Rushing, Dalton 1 ; Payton, Jack 1 ; Benson, JT 1 ; Usher, Levi 2 ; Seng, Chris 1 ; Bianco, Ben 2 ; Beard, Logan 3 ; Smith, Noah 1
SB: Bianco, Ben 1 ; Beard, Logan 1
HBP: Knapczyk, Christian 1 ; Masterman, Cameron 1 ; Beard, Logan 1
