Baseball rallies before falling 9-5 at No. 4 Louisville

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Morehead State junior leftfielder Michael Patrick connected on a three-run homer at No. 4 Louisville Wednesday, but it was a case of too little, too late as the Cardinals built an 8-0 lead after four frames and held on to defeat the Eagles 9-5 at Jim Patterson Stadium.
 
Louisville improved to 6-2 overall and 5-0 against Ohio Valley Conference teams this season, while MSU slipped to 6-3.
 
The Cardinal pitching staff, represented by five hurlers today, limited Morehead State to only three hits. Louisville opened up the 8-0 margin thanks to a five-run fourth.
 
"I thought with the exception of a few pitches, we threw the ball very well today and good enough to even win," said Head Coach Mike McGuire. "I was disappointed in our offense. We were anemic for five innings with hardly any quality at-bats, and you simply can't do that against a good team, let alone any team, and expect to win."
 
After back-to-back walks for sophomore second baseman Braxton Morris and freshman catcher Hunter Fain, on 13 pitches in the seventh inning, Patrick drove the first pitch from U of L reliever Jake Sparger over the fence in left field to make it 8-5.
 
The Eagles had cut the margin to 8-2 an inning earlier when junior third baseman Alex Stephens drove in a run on a fielder's choice, and junior rightfielder Will Schneider slashed an RBI single through the left side of the infield.
 
The hosts scored on a wild pitch in the second, added two in the third and crossed the plate five times via six hits in the fourth.
 
Five Cardinal hitters had multi-hit days as Louisville racked up 15 hits. Brenden McKay and Alex Tiberi finished with three safeties apiece.
 
MSU starter Patrick McGuff (0-2) absorbed the loss, being charged with eight earned runs off 10 hits in 3.1 innings. Louisville starter Kade McClure (2-0) only surrendered one hit in the first five frames.
 
Morehead State is set to open its 2016 home schedule Saturday at noon ET with a doubleheader versus Siena College from Albany, N.Y.