University of Louisville
25-8, 7-6
Wake Forest
30-4, 13-2
Cardinals Drop Opening Game to No. 2 Wake Forest
April 14, 2023 | Baseball
Louisville lost the series opener 11-5 on Friday.
The loss was the first for Louisville (25-8, 7-6 ACC) against a ranked opponent this season after five consecutive victories.
The Cardinals struck for the first run on Friday evening after Ryan Hawks got a double play to end the top of the first inning.
Christian Knapczyk led off the bottom half with a single and the Cards had runners on the corners with two outs. Eddie King Jr. then battled and singled into left field on the 11th pitch of his at-bat to drive home the opening tally.
Hawks put another zero on the board in the second, but Wake Forest (30-4, 13-2 ACC) broke through in the third. The Demon Deacons hit three consecutive homers, the first of which was a three-run shot to take a 5-1 lead.
Wake Forest then added four more runs with one swing in the fourth, taking advantage of a Louisville miscue that kept the inning alive.
The Cardinals scratched a pair of runs across in their half of the fourth, but the Deacons answered with a two-run homer in the fifth to keep the momentum in their favor.
Louisville would put single runs up in the fifth and eighth innings, but would get no closer than six the rest of the night.
Hawks (5-2) suffered just his second loss of the season, allowing five runs over three innings. Kade Grundy recorded three shutout innings out of the bullpen, while Ben Wiegman added a scoreless frame of his own.
Louisville and Wake Forest continue the three-game series on Saturday with first pitch at 1 p.m. ET.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Seth Keener (5-0)
L: Hawks, Ryan (5-2)
Batting:
2B: Tommy Hawke 1 ; Gio Cueto 1
HR: Tommy Hawke 1 ; Brock Wilken 1 ; Pierce Bennett 1 ; Justin Johnson 2
RBI: Tommy Hawke 2 ; Brock Wilken 3 ; Pierce Bennett 1 ; Justin Johnson 5
Base Running:
RUNS: Tommy Hawke 3 ; Lucas Costello 2 ; Brock Wilken 1 ; Pierce Bennett 2 ; Justin Johnson 2 ; Marek Houston 1
SB: Lucas Costello 1 ; Justin Johnson 1
Batting:
RBI: Payton, Jack 1 ; King Jr., Eddie 1 ; Kilen, Gavin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Knapczyk, Christian 1 ; Benson, JT 1 ; King Jr., Eddie 1 ; Anderson, Brandon 1 ; Humphrey, Isaac 1
HBP: Benson, JT 1 ; Payton, Jack 1 ; Beard, Logan 1
