U of L Takes Two Against Brown in Doubleheader

With inclement weather moving this weekend’s games up, Louisville ended up playing a doubleheader on Friday against the Brown Bears.

The Cards ended up taking both games in the doubleheader, and here is a recap of both games.

Dominant Pitching Leads to Shutout Victory in Game One

U of L took game one of their series against Brown in a very dominant performance, shutting out the Bears to the tune of a 7-0 score in the first stanza of the doubleheader.

The performance was highlighted by a career day at the mound from sophomore Reid Detmers. He threw career-highs in both innings pitched and strikeouts, getting through seven whole innings with 11 strikeouts and only allowing one walk in the game.

Detmers would see his day end after the end of the seventh, as head coach Dan McDonnell chose to put reliever Jack Perkins in to close out the game. Perkins managed to pitch two shutout innings, and maintained Louisville’s no-hitter bid into the final at-bat. But a shallow hit to right-center field from Brown’s Willy Homza barely landed, leaving the Cardinals one batter away from its first combined no-hitter in at least 35 years.

At the plate, the Cardinals were led by a steady performance from the top of the order. Lucas Dunn, Jake Snider, and Tyler Fitzgerald finished a combined 8-for-10, with Snider delivering a perfect 4-for-4 performance at the plate. Fitzgerald led the team with four RBIs, with Lucas Dunn (2-for-3, four runs, one RBI) and Henry Davis (0-3, RBI) also driving in runs throughout the game.

The Cards got on the board first after Dunn made it home on a wild pitch, ending the first inning with a 1-0 lead. Dunn scored again in the bottom of the third, tagging home on a sac fly provided by Tyler Fitzgerald and pushing Louisville’s lead to 2-0.

Henry Davis had an RBI groundout that scored Drew Campbell, extending the shutout lead to 3-0. RBI singles from Dunn and Fitzgerald made Louisville’s lead 5-0 after four innings.

Fitzgerald’s two-RBI single in the sixth inning capped off the Louisville scoring at 7-0, bringing home Snider and Dunn.

Lavey’s Walk Off Completes Doubleheader Sweep for Louisville

Justin Lavey’s walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth closed the doubleheader with a 5-4 win for Louisville, making them two-for-two on Friday.

Brown rebounded from game one’s performance by coming out guns blazing. The Bears got a lot of early hits, eventually scoring an RBI single from Elliot Ginns in the second inning, taking a 1-0 lead.

Louisville quickly tied it in their half of the second inning, getting a run from Zeke Pinkham’s RBI sac fly to center field. They would take the lead on an RBI single from Logan Wyatt in the bottom third inning, going up 2-1 entering the fourth.

Brown retook the lead in the fifth inning, scoring three runs in a long, grinding inning for the Cardinals and pitcher Nick Bennett. Joe Lomuscio brought in an RBI double to tie the game at 2-2, then an RBI fielder’s choice from Rich Ciufo brought home two runs, aided by an error at second base.

Jake Snider had an RBI on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning, scoring Alex Binelas and cutting Brown’s lead to 4-3. Binelas’s flyout to center field in the bottom sixth brought home Ethan Stringer, tying the game at 4-4.

With the game entering extra innings, Louisville set up Lavey to deliver the walk-off RBI single with two outs. Danny Oriente drew a walk in a pinch-hit situation. Trey Leonard then stole second, and advanced to third after Drew Campbell’s single. After Zeke Pinkham pop flied, Campbell stole second base to put runners at second and third, and Lavey ended up delivering the winning run on his RBI single.

After delivering Louisville’s only win last weekend, Nick Bennett had a rougher outing than usual. Bennett finished the second game of the double-header with five innings pitched, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and struck out six batters.

Bobby Miller came in afterwards and steadied the ship for Louisville at the mound. The sophomore had a stellar showing in relief duty, managing to strike out eight batters in four shutout innings. Between the two games, the Cardinals had 13 strikeouts as a team in game one, and 14 in game two.

Shay Smiddy, Adam Elliott and Jared Poland all combined for a shutout tenth inning, allowing Louisville a chance to close the game in the bottom half.

Despite the one-hitter in the first game of the doubleheader, Brown got the offense going in the nightcap, delivering eight hits. Joe Lomuscio and Garett Delano led the way as the only Bears batters with multiple hits, going 2-for-5 each. Lomuscio also had the only extra-base hit for Brown with a double in the fifth inning.

Louisville had five hits and ten walks in their batting lineup. Logan Wyatt (2-for-4, RBI, double) was the only U of L batter with multiple hits and an extra-base hit during the game. Lucas Dunn (1-for-3), Drew Campbell (1-for-2), and Justin Lavey (1-for-2) also recorded hits. Campbell also drew a team-high three walks in the game.

Up Next: Louisville closes out their weekend series against Brown on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Admission is free, and also available on the WatchESPN app and on 93.9 The Ville.