By Derek DeBurger

It’s the time of year when middling teams need to make a push for a chance at a postseason run. Another so-so week shrinks the already diminishing chances of a long May for Louisville Baseball.

Tuesday

After having the first meeting of the season canceled due to inclement weather, Louisville opened up the week against their rivals, the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats.

Kentucky began scoring early off of a home run in the top of the first inning. JT Benson matched Kentucky with a home run of his own on the first pitch from the Wildcats, and Isaac Humphrey hit one of his own to give the Cards a 2-1 lead.

The wheels fell off in the second and third innings. Louisville gave up nine runs to fall behind 2-10, with none of the hits in this span being greater than doubles. Louisville clawed back into the game with five runs through the third and fourth innings, but another seven runs from Kentucky pushed the lead up to 10. Louisville made one final push with three runs in the sixth inning and three runs in the eighth inning, but it was too little too late. Louisville would lose 13-17.

The Cardinals have the bats to compete with the top teams in the country, but the bullpen could not get stops to save their lives. This has been the story all season long, and while mid-week games can be tricky to judge, the Cards have to pick up wins anywhere they can for a chance at salvaging the season. Tuesday was just not that chance.

Friday

Louisville’s weekend series was against the Miami Hurricanes—the team with the worst record in the ACC. Louisville started the game by taking advantage of the Canes and loading up the bases before scoring on a fielder’s choice. The Cards gave up a run in the second inning to tie the game, but another set of loaded bases proved more lucrative than the last. Alex Alicea slapped a three-RBI triple to give the Cards a 4-1 lead.

In the fifth inning, Louisville gave up two scores on the first pitch of a couple of at-bats. One of the scores was a solo home run, and another a throwing error that allowed extra bases. Miami scored one more run in the sixth inning to finally tie the game at 4-4.

Louisville was able to quickly regain the lead with a big seventh inning, scoring two runs off of a fielding error, one off a sacrifice fly, and a solo home run to take an 8-4 lead. Another home run by Dylan Hoy in the top of the ninth pushed the lead to 9-4. Tucker Biven came in to close the game out, giving up one final run but getting the job done to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Louisville takes game one, 9-5.

Saturday

With the series advantage, Louisville found themselves in a situation they had not often found themselves in this season—a pitchers’ duel. After going scoreless through four innings, the first runs came from Louisville in the fifth inning. Louisville pushed the lead in the sixth inning to 3-0, including a home run from Eddie King Jr.

The Cards came crashing down to reality in the seventh inning as starter Evan Webster gave up his first home run in a battle at the plate. Webster got pulled and the relief did anything but. The Cards loaded the bases multiple times en route to a five-run inning for Miami, now falling behind 3-5. Louisville didn’t wait long, however, to tie it back up with a two-run home run from Benson in the eighth inning.

Biven got put in to close out the game, recording no runs and two strikeouts against eight batters faced. A run in the 10th inning gave the Cards the lead and the win, and Biven recorded his second win of the season.

Louisville takes game two 6-5.

Sunday

With the series already won, Louisville got out to a nice start on Sunday. The Cards scored three runs in the first two innings, including another triple from Alicea. They did give up four runs in the bottom of the second inning to fall behind 3-4, but the game was still very much competitive. The third quarter, however, is where everything fell apart for the Cards. The Canes scored eight runs in the third. For the second time in the week, none of the runs in this monster inning came from anything greater than a double.

Another two runs in the fourth and a three-run home run in the sixth made the lead insurmountable, and a scoreless seventh inning triggered a run-rule ending.

Louisville lost 5-17.

Louisville would win the series, however, 2-1.

The Season Going Forward

While the Cards did win their series against the Canes, which marks their only road series of Apr., they finished the week at 2-2.

The lone loss to Miami was an embarrassing one, and a bad loss as far as the RPI is concerned.

Barring a late-season collapse, Louisville will likely be a middle seed in the ACC Tournament. They still have the capacity to get hot and make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid—especially with the strength of the remaining schedule—but it is increasingly looking like winning the ACC Tournament is the only path towards a post-season berth.

For now, Louisville advances to 23-16 on the season and 9-9 in the ACC.