By Morgan Davenport

Louisville went 2-1 against their competition in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown, pulling off two ranked upsets in the process.

As one of the biggest underdogs in the field, Louisville perhaps has the biggest improvement in perception out of anyone in the sport’s opening weekend.

Opening night

The Cards opened their season against the No. 19 Texas Longhorns.

After a scoreless first inning, Louisville gave up three hits in the second. The first hit was a double, and it was followed up by a home run just two batters later to make the score 0-2.

Louisville failed to score in the bottom of the second, and found themselves in a pickle in the third inning. The Cards let three Texas batters get on base. However, starter Patrick Forbes stayed in the game and struck out the next batter to get the Cards out of that jam.

Forbes ended Friday with 11 strikeouts in just five innings.

The pitching really shored up from there, but Louisville could not get runners across home plate.

Even with getting batters on base a number of innings, the Cards could not capitalize.

Still scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, Garret Pike saved face with a game-tying two-RBI single to force extra innings at a score of 2-2.

Closer Tucker Biven came in to start the 10th inning, but his season didn’t get out to an ideal start. After striking out the first batter, he gave up a solo home run to let the Longhorns reclaim the lead. Given remained in the game, and got the Cards out of the inning.

In the bottom of the 10th, Louisville continued their solid batting.

Kamau Neighbors doubled in just two pitches. Alex Alicea grounded out in the next at bat, but Neighbors advanced to third base. In the next at bat, Zion Rose singled up the middle to send Neighbors home to tie the game a 3-3.

Following a walk, some steals and a hit by pitch, Lucas Moore came out swinging with a walk-off RBI single.

The Cardinals took down the Longhorns 4-3 in the 10th.

Saturday

Saturday against the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys got off to a nice start.

Louisville held the Cowboys scoreless through three innings and were up 3-0 until Parker Detmers let up a grand slam in the fourth inning.

Jared Lessman took to the mound, but the game shifted into a dominant performance from the Cowboys and Louisville just could not come back.

Maybe it was the hangover of a cathartic victory on opening night, but the offense went silent and the bull pen couldn’t stop a nose bleed.

The Cards fell to Oklahoma State 3-12.

Sunday

After a rough loss the night before, The Cards needed to focus to end the weekend on a high against the No. 21 Arizona Wildcats.

Peter Michael started on the mound for the last game of the weekend, striking out five batters but letting up a homer with two outs in the bottom of the first.

The game remained a pitcher’s dual through the next few innings, with Michael holding his own after the one awry pitch.

The top of the fifth inning is when the Cardinals offense woke up. After Eddie King Jr. struck out as the first batter, Tague Davis singled then stole second, and then Neighbors reached second base off a single of his own.

Alicea lined out, but then Louisville went on to score eight runs in the inning all while having two outs. The inning went so well that King was able to get back up to bat and hit a two-RBI triple. Louisville ended the fifth inning up 8-1.

With the pitching continuing to hold strong, Louisville strung together another amazing inning in the eighth.

Matt Klein got the scoring going with an RBI single. Louisville then got four more singles to put up four more runs before the inning came to a close.

Wyatt Danilowicz finished off on the mound, striking out the first batter he’s faced in nearly two years.

Louisville won via run-rule 13-1 in the eighth.

Not only did Louisville get multiple ranked wins, they showed that their pitching is vastly improved over recent seasons.

The Cards got great showings from their starters, and the bull pen held their own more often than not.

Expectations have officially been risen, but that was the best outcome going into the Shriners Showdown.

The Cardinals advance to 2-1 on the season.

Louisville will host Xavier on Wednesday and Western Michigan in a series over the weekend.

Photo Courtesy // Aiden Shertzer