By Charlie Leffler
Sunday afternoons and baseball have always had a special ring to them. Yet, there was an added bonus on this Sunday afternoon when the Cards not only said goodbye to six senior players, but it was Mother’s Day as well. One player whose mother could not make it to the game was senior third baseman Mike Budak, but even though she was absent he gave her a day to remember. Budak belted in two solo homers over the right center wall, which was all Louisville, needed to defeat UAB. But other’s joined in the fun and the Cards ran away with a 7-1 win.
Junior Scott Barber got the win while pitching a complete game allowing only four hits to the Blazers (15-37, 6-21). With the win, Louisville (35-13, 19-8) remained a half game back from Houston and Southern Miss in Conference USA. U of L is also only three wins away from tying its all time win mark of 38 on the season.
The game started off looking like it was going to be a pitcher’s duel as only one player on each team made it to base in the first one and half innings. But then in the bottom of the second Budak took a 2-1 pitch and sent it over the right center wall to put the Cards ahead 1-0.
“I was just trying to work the count and get pitches ahead and relax up there,” said Budak.
Ken Tirpack then made it to base on a walk and a Fernando Isa double in right moved the runners to second and third. Tirpack then scored on a sacrifice fly by Scott Gerlach.
Next, centerfielder Dave Williams Jr. sent a stringer down the third base line that went all the way to the wall for a triple extending his hitting streak for 15 consecutive games. On the hit Isa scored. J.T. LaFountain then hit the gap at short for a single and Williams scored to push Louisville ahead 4-0.
Neither team managed to score again until the bottom of the sixth when Isa sent a deep fly into right that landed just inisde the line allowing Tirpack to score and giving Louisville a 5-0 lead.
In the top of the seventh, UAB’s Matt Womble took a 0-1 pitch from Barber and sent it over the centerfield wall. It was the Blazers only score on the day and also added to the fact that every run scored by UAB over the weekend was the result of a homer.
In the bottom of the seventh Williams got to base once more by hitting a similar stringer up the right field line for a double, his seventh on the season. A shot to center by LaFountain moved Williams to third who scored on a sacrifice by Bojorquez.
Louisville looked to have the game firmly in hand when Budak led off the eighth inning with his ninth homer of the year to the same spot he put the first one. The run put U of L up 7-1 which was the final score.”I’m just trying to keep up with these guys,” said Budak. “Jurich and Bojorquez are out here hitting runs every day.”
“He’s been struggling all year so it was good to see him have a good day,” said head coach Lelo Prado, “especially on senior day.”Now the Cards have their own futures in their hands. They travel to Kentucky on Monday evening then play a double header against Akron at Cardinal Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. By picking up the three wins Louisville will tie the record season total.
U of L will then travel to ECU for the final three games of the regular season before competing in the C-USA championships May 21-26 in Kinston, North Carolina.
“We feel pretty good going into next weekend and a chance to win the conference championship,” said Prado. “It’s the first time this school’s ever had a chance to win the conference down the stretch. We feel pretty good with where we’re playing and hopefully we’ll continue to play well and get a regional bid.”
“We’re playing for more so we need to step it up and win these games,” said Budak, “and that means a little more. So every at bat you try to get on and score runs. I think we all know that we had to win three this weekend and three next weekend to win it. We’re ready for it. We’re playing good right now. It’s right out there for us to grab.”
The Tuesday double header against Akron was added this past week and will be the Cards final home games of the season. The first game starts at 1:00 in Cardinal Stadium.
