Payton, Cards Walk Off Georgia Tech in ACC Opener

Friday, March 17

Louisville, Ky.

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

16-1, 0

Georgia Tech

13-5, 0

Georgia Tech

Louisville

Photo by: Rachel Klotz | Louisville Athletics

March 17, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score PDF Box Score Dan McDonnell Postgame Video Jack Payton Postgame Video Photo Gallery

Louisville won 8-7 over Georgia Tech on Friday night.

By: Stephen Williams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jack Payton singled home Logan Beard and lifted the second-ranked University of Louisville baseball team to an 8-7 walk-off victory over Georgia Tech on Friday night at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Louisville (16-1, 1-0 ACC) extended its winning streak to 11 with the victory and improved to 9-0 all-time in ACC openers since joining the league in 2015.

The walk-off win was the first for the Cardinals since Isaac Humphrey's game-winning hit against North Carolina on April 10, 2022.

Louisville looked like it was on its way to a smooth victory on Friday night, leading 5-0 after five innings. Patrick Forbes delivered a bases clearing triple in the third to start the scoring, before a run-scoring single from Christian Knapczyk in the fourth and a solo home run off the bat of Ryan McCoy in the fifth.

Georgia Tech (13-5, 2-2) came alive in the sixth though. The Yellow Jackets sent 11 batters to the plate and capitalized off a pair of UofL errors to push six runs across and move in front for the first time before extending its lead to 7-5 with a sacrifice fly one inning later.

The Cardinals pulled within one on a groundball from Haven Mangrum in the seventh and then loaded the bases with one out in the eighth. Forbes stepped to the plate with a Cardinal at every base for the second time in the game and worked a walk to tie the game at seven.

Riley Phillips and Tate Kuehner combined to pitch scoreless eighth and ninth innings, setting up Payton's heroics in the ninth.

The first two Cardinals were retired in the ninth before Beard took a four-pitch walk. A wild pitch moved him to second and Knapczyk drew a walk behind him. Payton then dropped a 1-1 breaking ball into centerfield to send Beard to the plate for the win.

Payton was 3-for-6 on the night, his fourth three-hit game of the season. Gavin Kilen had a two-hit day and Forbes drove in a career-best four.

Kuehner (1-0) grabbed the win after retiring the final two batters in the ninth. Phillips pitched 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, while Ryan Hawks allowed four earned over five-plus innings with seven strikeouts in the start.

Louisville and Georgia Tech continue the three-game series on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

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