University of Louisville
22-8, 8-3
North Carolina
21-10, 7-7
Metzinger’s Homer Walks Off North Carolina
April 09, 2022 | Baseball
The Cardinals won 9-8 to even the series on Saturday.
The walk-off blast was the second of the season for Metzinger and the Cardinals, who also did it against Morehead State on March 1. Louisville had not hit a walk-off home run in six years prior to having two in the last five weeks.
The home run evens up the series for the Cardinals with the rubber game set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
Louisville (22-8, 8-3 ACC) took an 8-6 lead into the ninth inning, but the tying runs reached base with nobody out. A strikeout and a pop up had the Tar Heels down to their final out, but the Cardinals had a fly ball drop on the warning track in right field that allowed the two runners to score and tie the game.
After the Cards failed to score in the bottom half of the ninth, North Carolina (21-10, 7-7) threatened again in the 10th. A single and a walk put two runners on, but a groundball to third base started a double play to end the frame and set up the walk-off in the bottom half.
The Tar Heels struck first on Saturday, getting a two-run homer in the top of the second inning.
Dalton Rushing put the Cardinals on the board with a leadoff homer in the fourth, giving him 10 on the season. Three of the next four hitters reached to load the bases and Ben Bianco promptly unloaded them with his second grand slam of the season.
UNC plated a run in the sixth, but Louisville got it right back with a wild pitch that scored Christian Knapczyk.
The Tar Heels then tacked three runs on the board on a homer in the seventh before a run-scoring single from Bianco stretched Louisville's lead back to two.
Metzinger was 3-for-5 on the day with his team-leading 13th home run of the season. Bianco, Rushing and Levi Usher each had two knocks with Bianco matching his career high with five RBIs.
Jared Poland turned in another quality start on the mound, allowing just three runs on five hits over six innings and matched his career-best with 10 strikeouts. Michael Prosecky (2-0) pitched a season-long 3.1 innings, giving up just the two unearned runs for his second win of the season.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Prosecky, Michael (2-0)
L: Davis Palermo (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Johnny Castagnozzi 1
HR: Danny Serretti 1 ; Alberto Osuna 1
RBI: Danny Serretti 3 ; Tomas Frick 1 ; Alberto Osuna 2
SH: Vance Honeycutt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Angel Zarate 1 ; Johnny Castagnozzi 2 ; Danny Serretti 2 ; Mac Horvath 1 ; Alberto Osuna 1 ; Mikey Madej 1
HBP: Tomas Frick 1 ; Mikey Madej 1
Batting:
2B: Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Masterman, Cameron 1
HR: Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Rushing, Dalton 1 ; Bianco, Ben 1
RBI: Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Rushing, Dalton 1 ; Humphrey, Isaac 1 ; Bianco, Ben 5
Base Running:
RUNS: Knapczyk, Christian 1 ; Metzinger, Ben 1 ; Rushing, Dalton 1 ; Payton, Jack 2 ; Usher, Levi 1 ; Beard, Logan 1 ; Humphrey, Isaac 1 ; Bianco, Ben 1
SB: Usher, Levi 2 ; Humphrey, Isaac 1
CS: Knapczyk, Christian 1
