The Cardinal 9
UL 6 WKU 2
Tonight the University of Louisville Cardinals came in with something to prove at Jim Patterson Stadium on an absolutely gorgeous night. The Cards fell one spot to #12 this week in the polls after a crushing loss last week to now #2 Vanderbilt that was at the tail-end of a three game losing streak. The Cards followed up that losing streak with a convincing three game sweep of Georgetown at home. This led us into tonight’s match-up with .500 WKU which had already defeated both UL and uk this season while they were ranked so we knew they were no pushover.
Both teams played great ball the first three innings which were scoreless for the Hilltoppers. A 2 out RBI single by Ratajczak followed up by a single by Coco Johnson pushed the lead to a 2-0 lead finishing up the 3rd inning. After a scoreless fourth the Cards come thru when a ground ball by Whiting scores Crain to make it 3-0. A few more back and forth innings go on before Adam Engel crushes a ball to left field that brings in Crain and makes it 4-0 Cards after the top of the seventh. In the top of the eighth WKU 1B Ryan Huck smacks a 2 run homer to cut the lead to 4-2 but a pair of runs score off of an error in the bottom of the eighth that extends the lead back 4 at a score of 6-2 which is the final score. This baseball team has been a pleasure to watch for a lot of reasons. First thing that jumps out at you is that their leader in HR is Coco Johnson and Jeff Gardner with 4 each. One may automatically assume that our team must suck if the leaders only have 4 each but guess what? We can hit the Baseball. We are more of a fundamental team than a power hitting team. Thru 44 games our guys have knocked in 256 RBI’s and are batting over .300 with 450 hits on the season. Amazing. We are also a very intelligent team on the bases as well. All things that i think make us a favorite to go to Omaha. Also I was harsh last week about the turnout by the fans with then #3 Vandy in town and G’Town as well. Tonight we had over 2,000 fans in attendance and there is no reason as nice as the park is and with free admission and parking that we shouldn’t pack the park every game. Thanks CardNation for coming out. This one was a beauty.
