University of Louisville
26-11, 10-6
NC State
24-12, 10-8
Nine-Run Seventh Lifts Cards Past No. 23 NC State
April 23, 2022 | Baseball
Louisville tallied an 11-4 victory over NC State on Friday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Louisville (26-11, 10-6 ACC) found itself down 4-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning before turning the game upside down.
Jack Payton was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Levi Usher worked a walk to chase the NC State starting pitcher from the game. Logan Beard bunted both runners into scoring position and then Isaac Humphrey drew a walk to load the bases.
Ben Bianco stepped to the plate and drove a 1-1 fastball over the left-centerfield wall for a grand slam that gave the Cards a 5-4 lead. The slam was Bianco's third of the season and fourth of his career.
Louisville wasn't done there though. Christian Knapczyk singled and Ben Metzinger doubled before a fly ball dropped in left field that pushed a run across. Dalton Rushing singled home a run and Jack Payton had a sacrifice fly to tack on two more runs before Beard added a run-scoring single and a wild pitch plated Usher.
In total, the Cardinals sent 13 men to the plate in the seventh, scoring nine times for their fourth inning of the season with at least nine runs scored.
Louisville got scoreless innings from Kade Grundy and Jacob Ferris in the eighth and ninth, respectively, to close out the victory.
Ben Wiegman (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless seventh inning. Jared Poland allowed four runs over six innings, but punched out a career-high 11 batters.
Bianco was 3-for-4 on the night with four RBIs. Knapczyk finished 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored.
NC State (24-12, 10-8) picked up home runs in the third and fifth innings to jump out in front after the Cardinals plated a first-inning run.
Louisville and NC State are back in action on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wiegman, Ben (2-0)
L: Baker Nelson (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Josh Hood 1
HR: Tommy White 2
RBI: Tommy White 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Devonte Brown 1 ; LuJames Groover III 1 ; Tommy White 2
SB: Devonte Brown 1
HBP: J.T. Jarrett 1
Batting:
2B: Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Bianco, Ben 1
3B: Knapczyk, Christian 1
HR: Bianco, Ben 1
RBI: Masterman, Cameron 2 ; Rushing, Dalton 1 ; Seng, Chris 1 ; Payton, Jack 1 ; Beard, Logan 1 ; Bianco, Ben 4
SH: Beard, Logan 1
SF: Masterman, Cameron 1 ; Payton, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Knapczyk, Christian 2 ; Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Masterman, Cameron 1 ; Seng, Chris 1 ; Payton, Jack 1 ; Usher, Levi 2 ; Humphrey, Isaac 1 ; Bianco, Ben 2
SB: Usher, Levi 1
HBP: Seng, Chris 1 ; Payton, Jack 1
