By Derek DeBurger
Louisville’s magical season has come to an unfit end at the hands of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
Don’t blink
The Cards got off to a solid start, with Alex Alicea battling a nine-pitch count en route to a leadoff single.
Alicea then stole second base to get in scoring position, but three consecutive were retired batters to leave him stranded.
Colton Hartman got the start at pitcher for Louisville, his first mound appearance since April. Whether it was rust or nerves or a combination of the two, Hartman gave up a single then hit two batter to load the bases.
A single sent two runners home, and a walk reloaded the bases with no outs.
Hartman was then pulled for Jake Schweitzer, but the situation was too sticky for the freshman. A bases clearing double was followed by an RBI-single two batters later to put the Cards down 6-0.
The inning from hell finally ended, but the action came to a halt for several innings after that.
There was no real action until the bottom of the fifth. A triple sent two runners home to put the deficit at eight runs.
Louisville finally found some success on offense in the sixth. The Cards loaded the bases with no outs, then a double from Tague Davis send the first two for the Cards across home plate.
Singles later in the inning from Garret Pike and Kamau Neighbors cut the deficit to 8-3.
Unfortunately, Coastal added two more runs in the bottom of that same inning to put them back up 10-3.
From there the Louisville offense fell quiet again, and Coastal added an unneeded insurance runs in the eighth.
Louisville lost 11-3, as their dream season came to an end.
All good things…
With the season on the line, Dan McDonnell made one of the more questionable decisions of the season.
According to the ESPN broadcast crew, Patrick Forbes felt he was ready to go, but McDonnell and Roger Williams decided to hold him out in hopes of forcing a game Thursday.
However, the Cards would only benefit from Forbes pitching Thursday if they made it to Thursday.
Louisville went through seven different arms, giving up 11 hits to six walks and seven strikeouts.
Louisville’s offense didn’t do their pitching staff any favors, with the only real production coming from the designated hitters spot. Pike went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Tagger Tyson went 1-for-1 in his one pinch hit opportunity.
Louisville was a team all season long that had the talent to beat anybody, but the run was still miraculous.
The shallow depth in the bullpen and the whimpering end to the season instilled confidence in no one, but McDonnell reminded everyone exactly why he’s been coaching at Louisville for 19 years.
Even himself.
McDonnell said in his press availability prior to the Men’s College World Series that during the “lean years” that even he started to doubt whether he could get a team back to Omaha.
He has proven that he is still a top tier coach, and still has what it takes to get Louisville only their second national championship in a team sport.
Only time will tell if he can bring the Cards to the promised land.
Louisville finishes their season with a record of 42-24 and a top-four finish in the sport.
Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, Louisville Athletics
