Louisville Opens Regional With 7-2 Win Over SE Missouri St

#12 Louisville (39-18-1) rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the second inning to take a 7-2 victory over Southeast Missouri State (37-21).

That was fun.#GoCards pic.twitter.com/QaArX4lFzm

— Louisville Baseball (@LouisvilleBSB) June 3, 2022

Louisville now advances to the 1-0 game tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. ET, where they will face Michigan at 4:00 ET (airing live on ESPN2). SEMO will face Oregon in the elimination game at noon.

SEMO took a 2-0 lead after an RBI single from Ty Stauss and an RBI double from Jevon Mason in the first and second innings, respectively. After that, Louisville cut into the lead in the bottom of the second with a solo home run from Cameron Masterman, his 15th of the season. Louisville took the lead in the fourth inning after Levi Usher drove in an RBI single, then later scored on a balk.

Jack Payton drove in the final four runs for Louisville in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings. Payton had RBI doubles in the fifth and seventh innings, then added a two-RBI single in the eighth to pad U of L’s lead. Payton led all Louisville hitters with a stellar 4-for-5 showing at the plate, accounting for four of U of L’s six RBIs on the afternoon.

Ben Metzinger, Cam Masterman, and Christian Knapczyk also led the Cardinals with 2-for-5 showings at the plate. Masterman had the lone home run for Louisville in the game, while Knapczyk had a solid outing in his first start since May 7th against Wake Forest. Isaac Humphrey also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3.

The Sheriff was 𝘿𝙄𝘼𝙇𝙀𝘿 𝙄𝙉.#GoCards | @garrettschmeltz pic.twitter.com/2Qa4LnfMCz

— Louisville Baseball (@LouisvilleBSB) June 4, 2022

Garrett Schmeltz got the start on Friday and had a career day on the mound, pitching a career-high six innings with two runs allowed (one earned), and eight strikeouts with just two walks. Tate Kuehner earned his third save of the season, pitching the final three innings in shutout fashion with four strikeouts and just one hit.

SE Missouri State had five hits in the game, with Ben Palmer (2-for-2) being the lone Redhawk with a multi-hit game. Jevon Mason (1-for-3) and Ty Stauss (1-for-4) each had an RBI in the game.