By Charlie Leffler
ATLANTA-When the University of Louisville baseball team headed to Atlanta for their first ever NCAA Regional contest they thought they had packed everything they needed. But after a dismal offensive performance perhaps the trainers should check through the Cardinal’s bags to see if they forgot to bring along their bats.
When Georgia breezed to a 7-1 win over Louisville on Friday’s opening game of the Atlanta Regional it marked the third consecutive loss by the Cardinals. In each of the games, the usually offensively potent U of L bats could not manage to push than one runner across the plate as they were outscored a combined 25-2.
“In the last three games we’ve scored a total of two runs,” said Louisville head coach Lelo Prado, “and you’re not going to win many games in the tournament when you’re not swinging the bat. We’ve got about twelve hours to figure it out.”
Because they have fallen into the lower bracket, the Cards will next face Coastal Carolina who lost to Georgia Tech 6-0.
Georgia had lost most of its pitching staff from a team that went to the NCAA World Series last year, but the Cards did not seem to play as if there was any problem with the Bulldog hurlers. UG’s Matt Woods picked up his third win on the season by going seven innings, throwing 115 pitches and gave up no runs on five hits while striking out seven and walking one.
“We kept trying to pull the ball,” said Prado. “You’ve got the make adjustments. I give them credit. He made us look pretty silly.”
Louisville freshman Zach Jackson (10-3) was slated with the loss, his second in a row. Jackson pitched five solid innings and shut down the Georgia offense. The problem was, Jackson was in the game for six and a half innings. In the bottom of the third, rarely used Georgia shortstop Josh Smith, who was making his first career start, sent a ball over the right field wall for a two run homer and pushed the Bulldogs ahead 3-0.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” said Prado, “that’s what wins in the tournament. Guys you don’t even think about step up and hit a two run homer.”
Just as in the C-USA tournament, in the seventh inning when Jackson got in trouble the Cards went to the reliable Josh Ring. But just as in the conference tournament, Ring could not close out the inning and the Bulldogs scored four more runs to create an insurmountable 7-0 lead.
The Cards finally got on the board in the top of the eighth when J.T. LaFountain scooted in for an uncontested run as the Bulldogs played it safe.
