It was smooth sailing for eight innings for UK’s pitching on Tuesday, but the ninth and tenth innings doomed the Cats as they lost 2-1 in extra innings to No. 3 Louisville.
UK freshman first baseman Evan White singled home Connor Heady in the bottom of the third inning to give UK its only run of the game. The score remained 1-0 for eight innings as left-handers Logan Salow and Dylan Dwyer combined to shut the Cardinals down, allowing only one hit in that span.
However, the ninth inning was a different story.
Dwyer walked Louisville pinch hitter Danny Rosenbaum at the start of the frame. Rosenbaum later scored on a single by Nick Solak to tie and extend the game.
In the bottom of the 10th, UK shortstop Connor Heady made a throwing error to put Louisville senior Mike White on second base. Blake Tiberi then singled to score White on the next at-bat to give Louisville its 35th win of the season.
Louisville recorded four hits on the night compared to UK’s seven. Neither team had a player have a multi-hit game.
Cardinal starter Sean Leland pitched seven innings of one-run baseball to lower his earned run average to 1.09 on the season. Right-hander Zack Burdi was given the win after retiring all three of UK’s batters in the 10th inning to improve his record to 3-0.
Cats left-hander Zach Logue was given the loss after allowing a hit and the unearned winning run. Logue’s record is now 2-2 on the season.
With the loss, UK has now lost five of its last six midweek games.
The Cats will be back in action this weekend as they host No. 6 Vanderbilt for a three-game series at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The Commodores will be the third straight Top 10 opponent UK has faced.
Staff Report