Offense struggles as Louisville falls in College World Series opener

Courier Journal

The Louisville baseball team is heading to the losers bracket of the College World Series.

Reid Detmers, Louisville’s ace starter, wasn’t as sharp as normal but gave the Cardinals a chance in their College World Series opener.

When it came time to for hits to give Detmers some run support, the Cardinals failed to come through and lost 3-1 to Vanderbilt in the process.

“We had a lot of good at-bats, but we couldn’t get timely hits," freshman Alex Binelas said.

Despite the loss, Louisville out-hit Vanderbilt 8-5 but left 10 runners on base. With runners in scoring position, the Cardinals were 2-for-7 in the game.

While Vanderbilt, one of the best power-hitting teams in the country, benefited from two home runs by leadoff hitter Austin Martin, the Cardinals are built different.

They are built for speed and extra base hits, but those rarely came on Sunday. Junior Tyler Fitzgerald said he thought the Cardinals played tight at the plate.

“Those swings weren’t Louisville baseball swings,” Fitzgerald said. “I think we were tight up there on the plate, trying to do too much. Defensively I think we were fine, pitching we were fine. Just trying to do too much at the plate. … We are better hitters than what we showed today.”

Scoring 26 runs in two NCAA super regional games showed just how contagious the Louisville offense can be when things get going early for it. In the fifth inning, Louisville looked like it got back to that.

Trailing 1-0 after a Martin lead-off home run in the first inning, Henry Davis tied the game with a RBI single. Two batters later, Louisville had the bases loaded with Fitzgerald coming to the plate.

He waited on the Drake Fellows fastball and got it.

“It got in on me, and I couldn’t do much with it,” Fitzgerald said. He popped out to first base, but Binelas was coming up with two outs.

Binelas grounded out.

At that moment, though, with the game tied 1-1, Louisville felt like it had the momentum.

Detmers, who walked a career-high six batters and struck out five, had calmed down on the mound. From there, Louisville thought it just needed one hit.

“We felt like we could win the game at any point,” Davis said. “... We were in it the whole time.”

U of L coach Dan McDonnell thought his team was fortunate to be in a tie game at the moment.

“With Reid not as sharp as he was, we didn't make a couple plays behind him in the field and even when we didn’t score with the bases loaded you felt like, ‘OK, we haven’t played great baseball, but we have a chance to win this.’” he said.

Louisville left two runners on base in the two next innings and Vanderbilt’s Martin took advantage of the opportunity. In the bottom of the seventh inning, six innings after sending Detmers’ first pitch of the day over the left-center wall, Martin hit a two-run home run off of reliever Bryan Hoeing.

Martin gave the Commodores a 3-1 lead, which was enough to lock up its trip ahead in the winners bracket.

“We felt like we had a chance to hold them but we still have to score. At the end of the day, we only scored one run,” McDonnell said.

The No. 7 Cardinals will have to bounce back quickly, as their season is on the line Tuesday. They will play the loser of No. 6 Mississippi State vs. Auburn at 2 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.

After making a run through the losers bracket in the NCAA regional, the Cardinals have experience with their backs against the wall.

“It’s not over yet. Anything could happen,” Fitzgerald said. “We could win four games in a row and come out of this. We will be alright we just have to hit the ball better.”

In those games, Louisville played with the energy that McDonnell has become accustomed to associating with his teams.

That’s what he challenged them to bring back, after Sunday’s game.

“I didn’t think we played our best baseball, it looked like our first two games in the regional. Maybe it’s having our backs against the wall, playing with more edge,” McDonnell said. “We always say we have to be who we are, and we play a certain way, a certain style with a certain type of energy, and I just didn't think we were that today. Hopefully we get back to who we are on Tuesday.”