By Charlie Leffler
Going into postseason play, the Louisville Cardinal baseball team looked as if it was on a roll. They had just moved into the Top 25 polls, finished second in C-USA regular season play, and had set a new school record with 39 wins. What they did not know was that they would not see another victory this year due to dropping four straight games in tournament play.
Heading to Atlanta for their first-ever NCAA Regional, Louisville thought they were ready. After losing back to back games in the C-USA tournament, the Cards had the incentive to prove themselves in the national arena. However, just as in the conference tourney, it was the usually potent Cardinal bats that failed. Louisville was quickly ousted from the double elimination regional by only scoring two runs in two days. At the same time, the defense, which had been among the tops in the nation, gave up run, after run, after run. In the post season, the Cards were outscored by a walloping 34-3. Louisville had not been held to one run throughout their entire regular season, but only managed single runs in one C-USA game, as well as each of the NCAA Regional contests.
When Georgia breezed to a 7-1 win over Louisville in Friday’s opening game of the Atlanta Regional, it marked the third consecutive loss by the Cardinals.
“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. ”
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 giving 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 to make adjustments. I give them credit. He (Woods) made us look pretty silly.”
Louisville freshman Zach Jackson (10-3) was slated with the loss, his second in a row. Jackson, who was later named to the Louisville Slugger All-Freshman team, pitched five solid innings, but as has proven a recent trend, the Cards had one bad inning to seal their doom. 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 (Smith) 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.”
In the seventh inning, when Jackson got in trouble, the Cards went to the reliable Josh Ring. Just as in the conference tournament, though, 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 Bull dogs played it safe.
On Saturday afternoon, the U of L team ended its season with a 1-9 loss to Coastal Carolina. Once again, the Cards fell victim to their inability to score. The usually powerful Louisville bats again remained largely silent as the pitching staff gave too many runs.
The Chanticleers scored in each of the first six innings to jump out to a 9-1 lead on 16 hits, but all they needed to take the Cards out of the game was a solo homer by right fielder Chad Felty.
The game started off with the Cards looking as if they were going to come out of their late season hitting slump. Centerfielder Dave Williams Jr. led off with a single, then later scored on a hit by first baseman Morgan Bojorquez. He was to be the only player that U of L could push across the plate.
Then, in the bottom of the first, the solo home run by Felty and an RBI double by catcher Randy McGarvey Jr. pushed Coastal ahead 2-1. The Chanticleers then added two more runs in the bottom of the second: one each in the third and fourth, two in the fifth, then one more in the sixth. As the shots continued to drop in openings, it seemed as if the Cardinal outfielders spent more time looking at the wall then at home plate as they chased ball after ball onto the warning track.
In their opening game against Georgia Tech, the Chanticleers managed to only pick up three hits. Against the Cardinals, Coastal Carolina matched that number in the first inning. Every Coastal Carolina player had picked up at least one hit by the bottom of the eighth inning. Seven of the eleven Chanticleers who batted scored runs.
“Our pitching was awful,” said Louisville head coach Lelo Prado. “Our hitting… you’ve got to score more than one. That’s been our problem the last four games. It’s just sad that it ended that way because hitting has been one of our strengths all year. You can’t fall behind without swinging the bats and we did that today. Give Coastal credit. They came out swinging the bats.”
Now, the Cardinals return home with a long off-season to think about how far they’ve come this season and how far they have yet to go. “It’s a learning process,” said Prado. “We made it here for the first time in school history and I’m very proud of our guys.”
“I don’t think you can ask for any more motivation than this,” said Dave Williams Jr., discussing next season. “It’s kind of like putting your hand in the cookie jar and getting your hand slapped.”
“We’re going to have a strong senior class,” said first baseman Morgan Bojorquez. “I guarantee you we’ll be back to the Regionals next year.”
“It’s the first step,” said Prado. “We have to get here before we can start making strides and I’m proud of them for what they did during the year. Hopefully, we’ll be back and have a little experience next year and play a lot better than what we did here in two games.”
Following the season, sophomore rightfielder Mark Jurich was named to the NCBWA All-American Third Team. He was also invited to participate in the 2002 USA Baseball National Team Trials. Freshman Zach Jackson was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team.
