U of L baseball takes a loss against school rival UK

By: Hannah Walker–

The No. 5 Louisville Cardinal’s baseball team faced the Kentucky Wildcats at Jim Patterson Stadium on Apr. 6. Because of the Wildcat’s consistent offense throughout each inning, U of L lost with a final score of 7-11.

At the start of the game, Louisville kept a steady defense. Freshman Tate Kuehner was the starting pitcher, and he was successfully able to have a total of 52 pitches and 4 strike outs during the first two innings.

There were no RBIs (runs batted in) for either team during the first inning. However, that all changed when one of UK’s players made a homerun to center field during the top of the second inning.

Still, U of L stayed on the Wildcat’s toes when they had 3 RBIs during the bottom of the second inning. Junior outfielder Trey Leonard doubled to right field and junior infielder/outfielder Cameron Masterman scored.

Following Masterman’s score, infielder/outfielder Lucas Dunn singled to center field and Leonard scored. U of L continued to perform at their best when sophomore outfielder Levi Usher filed out to center field and Dunn scored. This tied the game up to 3-3 going into the third inning.

At the top of the third inning, UK broke the tie when they had 5 RBIs. U of L attempted to catch up during the bottom of the third inning when sophomore infielder Alex Binelas made a homerun to left field. This allowed sophomore catcher Henry Davis to score, but it wasn’t enough to take back the lead.

There were no RBIs for either team during the fourth inning, but that was no problem for UK. They were able to make 2 RBIs at the top of the fifth inning and continue to trail ahead of U of L.

U of L still pressed on when Davis made a homerun to center field during the bottom of the sixth inning. However, UK made a score of their own during the top of the eighth inning.

Although U of L stayed motivated till the end, it wasn’t enough to win the game. The Cardinals made 1 final score during the bottom of the ninth inning and lost.

“I had a Q & A session with our players,” head coach Dan McDonnell said during a post-game interview. “It was kind of a ‘who can tell me something that happened tonight,’ type of talk.” McDonnell continued to comment on how it wasn’t about pointing fingers at who messed up that night, but about teaching the game for future improvement.

U of L will play again on Apr. 9 at Jim Patterson Stadium at 6:00 p.m. against Florida State.

Photo Courtesy of Justin Krueger// U of L Athletics