By Hannah Walker —
The No. 2 Louisville baseball team played against the Boston College Eagles at Jim Patterson Stadium on Mar. 12. Louisville won with a final score of 7-3 thanks to their major improvement in offense during the start of the second inning.
At the start of the game, junior Michael Kirian was the starting pitcher for the Cardinals. He was successfully able to face 26 batters and have seven strike outs throughout the night. Still, the beginning of the game was not looking in U of L’s favor. Boston College scored three points during the first two innings of the game and Louisville struggled to keep up with their offense.
However, things picked up for Louisville during the bottom of the second inning when four points were made. Junior infielder/outfielder Cameron Masterman made a home run to right field and junior outfielder Luke Brown followed his performance.
Not long after the two points scored for U of L, freshman infielder Christian Knapczyk advanced to second and junior infielder/outfielder Lucas Dunn scored. This then allowed sophomore infielder Cooper Bowman to single to the left side and give Knapczyk the opportunity to add a point to the Cardinal’s scoreboard.
No points were made for either team during the third and fourth inning, but Louisville changed that when they scored another point during the bottom of the fifth inning. Masterman made an advancement to third base and sophomore infielder Alex Binelas scored. This gave Louisville a lead of 5-3 going into the sixth inning.
It wasn’t till the bottom of the eighth inning that any additional scores were made. Louisville made a point when Dunn singled to right field, advanced to second and then advanced to third. After this score was made, Knapczyk singled through the left side and Dunn made another score. This brought Louisville to another win with a final score of 7-3.
When asked how the team plans on improving defensively in later games, head coach Dan McDonnell said it was still to early in the season to say.
“It’s still early in the season,” he said. “We’re only 13 games in and looking back I should have had Knapczyk in there.” McDonnell went on to say that he feels like his rearrangement in the lineup is what will help them to win more games this season.
Louisville will continue to face Boston College through the weekend. Their next game is at Jim Patterson Stadium on Saturday, Mar. 13 at 1:00 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of GoCards
