LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the second time this year, WKU Baseball was edged by in-state rival Louisville, this time by a score of 5-4 on Tuesday night at Jim Patterson Stadium. Luke Brown went 3-for-4 for his 11th multi-hit game in his past 17 starts, raising his batting average from .195 to .319 in that span.
Things got busy early for both pitching staffs, as the Hilltoppers and Cardinals were tied 3-3 following a 44-minute first inning.
Steven Kraft and Jacob Rhinesmith walked against Louisville starter Michael Kirian, who was lifted after the first two batters of the game. Reliever Austin Dickey came in and hit Colie Currie on the first pitch, which set up Tyler Robertson's eighth sacrifice fly of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Ray Zuberer III followed with an RBI single into right field to extend his team-high on-base streak to 12 games, then Brown singled to load the bases once again for Jake Ryan. The catcher worked a seven-pitch walk that scored a third run for the Hilltoppers, and they carried a 3-0 advantage into the bottom of the first.
But the Cardinals evened it back up on a two-out, two-run single by Josh Stowers. During the next hitter, Stowers stole second and third, then came home on a wild pitch by WKU starter Troy Newell, which made it a 3-3 ballgame.
Devon Loomis, who got the final out of the first inning then worked a scoreless second, allowed a two-out RBI single to Justin Lavey that gave Louisville a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third.
But back came the Hilltoppers in the fifth, as Rhinesmith led off the inning with his third walk of the night. With one out, Robertson hit a line drive off the foot of pitcher Bryan Hoeing, who made an errant throw to first base trying to get the out. That allowed Rhinesmith to come around to score, making it a 4-4 game.
Maddex Richardson went a team-high 2.2 innings out of the WKU bullpen and allowed only one run, but it ended up being the winning run for the Cardinals (27-13). Lucas Dunn led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and moved to third with one out, then Pat Rumoro lifted a sacrifice fly that was just deep enough to center field, making it a 5-4 game.
The Hilltoppers (19-21) had runners in scoring position in the sixth and eighth innings, but were not able to score an equalizer. Louisville reliever Shay Smiddy got the final five outs for the save.
Topper Notes
- After striking out only four times in the first meeting on March 21, WKU hitters had zero strikeouts through the first seven innings on Tuesday. However, five of the final six outs were strikeouts by the Cardinals.
- WKU did not commit an error for the fifth straight game, and has strung together 46 consecutive errorless frames dating back to the seventh inning of the Hilltoppers' 7-5 victory vs. Marshall on April 15.
- WKU has held its opponents to exactly five runs in four consecutive games, and in five of the past six games. The Hilltoppers fell to 6-4 when opponents score five runs.
- WKU fell to 3-6 in one-run games, 3-6 in midweek games, 4-15 when being out-hit and 6-9 in black jerseys.
- Steven Kraft went hitless for the first time in nine games, but walked and scored in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to nine games. Since returning on March 3, the senior has reached base in 29-of-30 contests.
- Jacob Rhinesmith tied a season high with three walks and recorded his team-best ninth multi-run game. After drawing five walks through his first 24 games, Rhinesmith was worked 16 in his past 16 contests.
- Michael Darrell-Hicks, Michael Martin and Austin Tibbs combined for 2.1 scoreless frames out of the WKU bullpen. Hicks tossed his second scoreless inning of the season against Louisville, while Tibbs tallied his third consecutive scoreless outing.
Topper Quotes
- "After that first inning, the game settled down more. I thought we hit the ball hard today, I was happy with the swings we took, but we didn't have a lot to show for it after that first inning. At times we squared some balls up and they made some really nice plays on us." — Head coach John Pawlowski
- "That's a good offensive club and they put a lot of pressure on you. We had many innings where we had to make some pitches to get out of trouble and we did that and kept the game close to give ourselves a chance." — Head coach John Pawlowski
Up Next
WKU hosts Louisiana Tech for a Friday-to-Sunday set in Conference USA action from April 27-29. First pitch on Friday will be at 6 p.m., followed by 1 p.m. start times on Saturday and Sunday.
The Bulldogs (29-15, 13-5) also fell in midweek action, suffering a 9-4 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday night. Coming into the game, Louisiana Tech was riding a five-game win streak in which the offense scored 10-plus runs in each contest.
