Baseball Faces Midweek Road Test at Louisville

WKU Game Notes (PDF)
Game 40 Info: Video | Audio | Stats

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — After working to even up its Conference USA record to 9-9, WKU Baseball will have an opportunity to move to 20-20 overall in Louisville for a midweek contest against the Cardinals. First pitch on Tuesday, April 24, will be at 5 p.m. CT from Jim Patterson Stadium, with the game being streamed on ACC Network Extra.

The Hilltoppers are coming off a winning, 2-1 weekend against C-USA foe UAB, while Louisville suffered back-to-back one-run losses vs. Virginia to wrap the weekend ACC set. The Cardinals had defeated No. 6 Kentucky by a score of 8-2 in midweek, then defeated the Cavaliers 5-4 in Game 1 of the series.

Midweek Preview
With a 26-13 overall record, including a 10-11 mark in ACC competition, Louisville has just dropped out of the top 25 in recent weeks. Still, the Cardinals boast a four-game win streak in the series that the Hilltoppers are looking to break.

The last WKU win over Louisville was on April 22, 2015, against the No. 3 Cardinals. In that game, the Hilltoppers got out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and extended it to 7-0 going into the bottom of the fourth. Leiff Clarkson, Ryan Church, Danny Hudzina, Anderson Miller and Cody Wofford each had two hits. Starter Josh Bartley threw four innings of one-run ball to earn the win, and reliever Ben Morrison pitched a scoreless ninth to secure the 7-3 final score.

This year's Louisville club features Logan Wyatt as the top hitter. The first baseman leads the Cardinals with 35 RBI, 20 extra-base hits and a .341/.500/.526 slash line. He leads the ACC with 17 doubles, 40 walks and his .500 on-base percentage.

Junior righty Bryan Hoeing started the first matchup between the two teams earlier this season, but it was a scheduled staff day for the bullpen, as eight pitchers ended up seeing action for the visitors.

Louisville's pitching is the strength of the team, as the Cardinals lead the ACC in ERA (3.33), hits allowed per nine innings (7.1) and are ninth in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (10.2).

Although the Hilltoppers scored only three earned runs in the first meeting, the hosts collected 11 hits and only struck out four times in 40 plate appearances. The 11 hits are tied for third-most allowed by Louisville this season, while the four strikeouts are the fewest by Cardinal pitchers in their 39 games.

March 21 Recap - No. 15 Louisville 8, WKU 5
The Hilltoppers took a 2-1 advantage into the fifth inning after solo homeruns by Colie Currie in the second and Jacob Rhinesmith in the fourth. Starter Troy Newell and reliever Michael Martin held Louisville to one run in the first four frames, but the Cardinals struck for a pair in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead.

A misplayed and dropped fly ball by Louisville right fielder Drew Campbell allowed WKU to take a 4-3 lead right back in the bottom of the sixth. In the top of the eighth, however, the Cardinals struck for five for an 8-4 advantage.

2017 NCBWA Third-Team All-American righty Sam Bordner was asked to protect that lead in the bottom of the ninth and the Hilltoppers would not go down easily. Chase Larsen worked a nine-pitch walk, which was followed by singles from Richard Constantine, Ray Zuberer III and Steven Kraft to make the score 8-5.

But with the bases loaded, Bordner won nine-pitch battles against Rhinesmith and Currie to end the game. He was forced to throw 44 pitches and allowed his first run in 11 innings of work this season, as the Cardinals held on to strand the potential game-tying run at first base.

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Players Mentioned

Leiff Clarkson

Richard Constantine

Colie Currie

Steven Kraft

Chase Larsen

Michael Martin

Ben Morrison

Troy Newell

Jacob Rhinesmith

Ray Zuberer III