After earning their way back into a rematch with host Texas Tech, the Cardinals’ 2018 season came to a screeching end with a 9-1 loss to the Red Raiders.
The loss snaps a streak of six consecutive seasons that Louisville (45-19) made an appearance in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. Texas Tech (42-17) advances to face the winner of tomorrow’s Athens Regional between Georgia and Duke.
Much like yesterday’s win over Louisville, Texas Tech jumped ahead early and never looked back. The Red Raiders scored four runs in the top of the first, led by a three-run homer from Zach Rheams. Before that though, Josh Jung drove in a run with his single to right center field.
Cody Farhat hit a leadoff homer in the second inning, giving the Red Raiders a commanding 5-0 lead as a result. As a result, Louisville starting pitcher Reid Detmers — who started in Louisville’s 7-4 win over Texas Tech back in March — only lasted two innings. Detmers made the start due to normal Sunday starter Bobby Miller making an appearance in Louisville’s 12-6 win over Kent State earlier in the day.
Texas Tech would eventually build a 7-0 run in their first five innings; a fielder’s choice in the fourth allowed Jung to reach base, and Gabe Holt to reach home to push their lead to 6-0. Farhat’s RBI flyout in the fifth inning gave them the final run in that stretch.
The Cardinals would finally get on the board in the bottom half of the fifth inning, with Devin Mann’s sacrifice fly allowing Tyler Fitzgerald to score. The RBI flyout managed to cut the lead to 7-1 after five innings.
Texas Tech answered back with two runs in the sixth inning. The first came on an RBI groundout from Jung, with Rheams also hitting an RBI single in the inning. Justin Lavey’s RBI flyout gave Louisville a run back in the sixth, closing that inning with a 9-2 advantage for Texas Tech.
Louisville chipped into the gap in the later portion of the game. The first came on an RBI single from Drew Campbell in the seventh inning, cutting the lead to 9-3.
The Cardinals then made headway with a two-out rally in the eighth inning. Jake Snider drilled a two-run homer to right field, putting some much needed energy in the Louisville batting order. Logan Wyatt added an RBI single that scored Devin Mann from second, cutting the lead to 9-6 entering the ninth. Despite the small rally in the eighth, Louisville finished the game 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, most notably only getting one run in a bases-loaded situation with no outs in the sixth inning.
Zach Rheams would have a repeat performance of his second inning, starting the ninth with a leadoff home run and his second homer of the game. Cody Farhat added an RBI single that pushed Texas Tech’s lead to 11-6, effectively putting the game out of reach for Louisville.
Like in yesterday’s game, Texas Tech got a lot of quality production from the top half of their batting lineup. Leading the charge was designated hitter Zach Rheams, who batted a perfect 4-for-4 with five RBIs, three on his home run in the first inning. Rheams also finished one triple away from completing the cycle. Josh Jung was 1-for-4, but had two RBIs. Brian Klein (2-for-3, double, two walks) and Cody Farhat (2-for-4, three RBIs) also had stellar performances for the Red Raiders.
For Louisville, Jake Snider led the Cardinals with a 3-for-5 showing at the plate, with two RBIs coming on his home run in the eighth inning. Justin Lavey was 2-for-3 as the ninth batter in the order. Drew Campbell (2-for-5, RBI, double) and Logan Wyatt (2-for-4, RBI, one walk) were the only other Louisville batters with multiple hits, with Wyatt also drawing his 60th walk of the season to close 2018.
