March 21, 2001
Louisville, Ky. - The Western Kentucky baseball team dropped a 4-1 decision to the University of Louisville Wednesday afternoon at Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals (15-12) got all their runs and hits in the bottom of the first inning off WKU starter Kevin Sadowski (Sr., Cresthill, Ill.). After a one-out walk to DH Carlos De la Osa, Sadowski struck out LF Bill Gatti, Jr. 1B Morgan Bojorquez then hit a ball to left that was misplayed by Topper LF Matt Fox (Sr., Louisville, Ky.) for an error. That proved costly for Western as catcher Fernando Isa singled in two runs and RF Mark Jurick plated two more runs with a double to give the Cards a 4-0 lead.
Western (15-8) responded in the second as 3B Nick Turner (Jr., Louisville, Ky.) reached on an error by Mike Budak at third to lead off the inning. Catcher Ryan Cattell (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) then doubled to left center scoring Turner to make it a 4-1 game. Sadowski settled down allowing only two baserunners over the next three innings before giving way to Kurt Minnick (Fr., Anderson, Ind.). After walking the first batter he faced in the fifth inning, Minnick retired 12 straight Cardinal hitters over the final four innings.
Despite the strong performance by Minnick, Western was unable to push across another run the rest of the game. The Toppers had a scoring chance in the seventh as SS Matt Wilhite (So., Franklin, Ky.) drew a two-out walk and moved to second on a single by Fox, who increased his hitting streak to 17 games. 2B Brian Houdek (Sr., Dyer, Ind.) then singled to right by Jurick cut down Wilhite at the plate to end the inning.
Chase Cruse came in to throw the final two innings for Louisville allowing two hits to record his second save of the season. Starter Mike Eiler (3-1) picked up the win throwing 7.0 innings allowing one unearned run on six hits while striking out five and walking two. Sadowski (0-2) suffered the loss going 4.0 innings allowing four unearned runs on three hits, all in the first inning, while striking out four. Minnick allowed no hits and walking only one while striking out three in 4.0 innings of work. Cattell led the Topper offense with going 4-for-4 with an RBI. Wilhite had a multi-hit game with two.
Western will return home this weekend for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series with Arkansas State.
- WKU -
