Baseball Falls to Louisville, 16-6

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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.-- The Seton Hall baseball team was defeated by Louisville, 16-6 on Saturday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll field. The Pirates fall to 18-18 overall and 5-9 in BIG EAST play while Louisville improves to 27-11 overall and 10-4 in league play. Seton Hall's John Walsh (Jersey City, N.J.) led the team with two hits, two runs, three RBI and a triple.

Louisville out-hit Seton Hall 17-6 and Seton Hall committed two errors while Louisville had none.

Louisville scored four runs in the top of the first inning. After the leadoff batter popped up, the Cardinals hit three singles in a row to score. Logan Johnson singled to left center and moved to third on a Daniel Burton blooper to right center. Isaiah Howes drove in Johnson on a single up the middle. After a ground-out that moved runners to second and third, Chris Dominguez was intentionally walked to load the bases. Chris McClanahan then hit a triple to deep center field to drive in Burton, Howes and Dominguez for the 4-0 lead.

In the second, the Cardinals' Chris Cates led off the inning with a double to left field. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Burton single to short-stop. The run gave Louisville a 5-0 lead.

Louisville scored two in the third inning. With two outs, Derrick Alfonso and Cates hit back -to-back singles up the middle. A passed ball moved the runners to second and third and a single by Boomer Whiting drove in both Alfonso and Cates for a 7-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, Justin McClanahan led off the inning with a double and moved to second on a single by Alfonso. The runners moved to second and third on a wild pitch and McClanahan scored on a sacrifice fy by Cates. With two outs, the Cardinals loaded the bases after Johnson was walked and Burton was hit by pitch. Howes then blasted a grandslam to score four runs and give Louisville a 12-0 lead. The homerun was the first homerun at Owen T. Carroll field this season.

In the bottom of the sixth, Seton Hall scored its first run of the game with two outs. After Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) was hit by a pitch, Mike Young (Shrewsbury, N.J.) drove him in on a single to center field.

Louisville added a run in the seventh. Cates led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. Greg Del George drove in Cates on a sacrifice fly for the Cardinals 13th run of the game.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Pirates put runners on the corners when Walsh led off the inning with a single to left field and moved to third on a single by Tim McCann (Manasquan, N.J.). Matt Skopak (Essex Fells, N.J.) drove in Walsh to make the score 13-2.

Seton Hall loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning after Chris Fontenelli (Toms River, N.J.), Robbie Hine (Brick, N.J.) and Mark Pappas (Ocean Township, N.J.) all drew base-on-balls. With just one out, Walsh blasted a triple to left field to score three runs. Dan McDonald (Rockaway, N.J.) hit a single in the next at bat to score Walsh and cut the Cardinals lead to 13-6.

The Cardinals scored three runs in the ninth inning for the 16-6 victory.

Louisville's Justin Marks (4-1) earned the win while Seton Hall's Dan Merklinger (West Orange, N.J.) was credited with the loss.

The Pirates and the Cardinals will face off in the final game of the series on Sunday, Apr. 22. First pitch is scheduled for Noon.