Baseball Falls to Louisville, 8-7 in Extra Innings

Dan McDonald

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Seton Hall baseball team (17-32; 7-18 BE) fell to Louisville (26-28; 15-10 BE), 8-7 in twelve innings on Thursday evening at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Pirates rallied for five runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game and force extra innings. Dan McDonald (Rockaway, N.J.) led the Pirates with two hits, one run and two RBI. Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) tallied two hits and two RBI.

Seton Hall out-hit Louisville 13-7. Both teams stranded 10 runners on base and committed one error.

Louisville scored one run in the bottom of the third inning. After Pete Rodriguez led off the inning with a single to right field, the next batter popped up. A 30-minute rain/lightening delay interrupted the inning, and when it resumed Rodriguez stole second. After a strikeout, Nick Haley drew a walk to put runners at first and second. A two-out RBI single up the middle by Chris Cates drove in Rodriguez to put the Cardinals up 1-0.

The Cardinals added another two runs in the fourth inning. After Jorge Castillo and Isaiah Howes reached bases on consecutive base-on-balls, they moved to third and second, respectively on a sacrifice bunt. Castillo scored on a squeeze play at home on a sacrifice bunt by Rodriguez that advanced Howes to third. Howes scored on wild pitch that gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

In the sixth, Louisville added another run to its lead. With one out, Derrick Alfonso doubled down the left line. He crossed the plate on a Rodriguez double, and Rodriguez was thrown out at third trying to stretch the double into a triple for the second out of the inning. A fly out ended the inning with Louisville leading, 4-0.

Seton Hall stranded two runners on base in the eighth, after with one out Bobby Dombrowski (Denville, N.J.) was hit by a pitch. Dombrowski moved to second on a Tim McCann (Monasquan, N.J.) single to right field. The runners never advanced, with the inning ending on an infield pop-up and a ground-out.

Louisville scored one run in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 5-0 lead. With two out, Howes hit a single to shortstop. He stole second and scored from second with a stolen base and a wild pitch.

The Pirates rallied in the ninth inning with five runs on seven hits. McDonald led off the inning with a single to left field and John Walsh (Jersey City, N.J.) moved McDonald to third on a double to left field. Cohen drove in McDonald and Jim Kuperus (Sussex, N.J.), who was pinch running for Walsh, on a single to right field to cut Louisville’s lead to 5-2. Mike Young pinch ran for Cohen, and moved to second on a wild pitch. After a pop-up, Mark Pappas (Ocean Township, N.J.) singled to shortstop and moved Young to third. Casey Hines (West Milford, N.J.) drove in Young on a single through the right side and moved Pappas to second. Dan Lopez (Weehawken, N.J.) loaded the bases on an infield single with two out. Smedberg drove in Pappas and Hines on a single to left center field to tie the game at 5.

Seton Hall scored two runs in the eleventh inning, when McDonald drove in two runs on a two-out RBI single up the middle. With two out, Will Courter (Roseland, N.J.) singled up the middle. Lopez moved Courter to second after reaching on an error and Smedberg loaded the bases after drawing a base-on-balls. McDonald drove Courter and Lopez across the plate on a single up the middle to give Seton Hall a 7-5 lead.

Louisville tied it up 7-7 in the bottom of the eleventh inning. With one out, Rodriguez was hit by a pitch. He moved to second on a balk. Daniel Burton struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. However, a walk on Alec Lowry put a runner at first and second. A single by Nick Haley scored Rodriguez and a walk by Cates loaded the bases with two out. Logan Johnson drove in the tying run after drawing a base-on-balls to score Lowrey. Pirate Louie Fernandez (Union, N.J.) relieved Tim Dexter (South River, N.J.) with the bases loaded and forced a fly-out to end the inning tied at seven.

Louisville scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning. After Howes reached base after being hit by a pitch, he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Rodriguez drove Howes across the plate on a single to right field for the winning run of the game to give Louisville a 8-7 extra inning victory.

The Cardinals’ David Torcise earned the victory (2-4), while the Pirates’ Fernandez (1-2) was credited with the loss.

Seton Hall will face Louisville in game two of the three game series on Friday evening at Jim Patterson Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.

Scoreboard

Related News

Related Videos

Seton Hall University Athletics

Sponsors Slider