Here is your 2009 Big East Tourney Recap for May 23rd where we saw Louisville and UConn advance to the Championship game which takes place on Sunday.
Notre Dame 6 Louisville 5
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Freshman Will Hudgins (Richmond, Va.) induced a game-ending double play with the bases loaded to give the Irish a thrilling, 6-5, victory over Louisville to setup an elimination game with the Cardinals later this afternoon for a right to play in tomorrow’s BIG EAST championship game. Notre Dame (36-22) and Louisville (42-15) will play at approximately 5:00 p.m. ET.
Hudgins picked up his third career save, all of which have come against the Cardinals. The sidewinder, who tossed 4.0 scoreless innings for a victory in yesterday’s come-from-behind win over St. John’s, came in the game with the bases loaded and no outs with the Irish holding a 6-3 lead. Ryan Wright followed with a single to cut the Notre Dame lead to 6-4. Hudgins then got Nate Holland to ground into a fielder’s choice as senior Jeremy Barnes (Garland, Texas) made a nice running play on the grounder and retired a runner at third base.
Chris Dominguez did score to make it 6-5 and Alec Lowry followed with a single, but Louisville did not send the runner setting the stage. John Dao hit a grounder right to Barnes at shortstop, who flipped to defensive replacement Ryne Intlekofer, who in turn tossed to another defensive replacement junior Casey Martin at first base. Intlekofer’s throw was off target, but the 6-for-4 first baseman lunged, caught the throw and somehow managed to keep his foot on the bag to end the game.
Notre Dame Recap
Louisville Recap
UConn 10 South Florida 8
CLEARWATER, Fla. – UConn downed South Florida for the second time in two days as Mike Olt went 3-for-4 with two home runs to lift the Huskies over the Bulls by a score of 10-8 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. on Saturday afternoon. With the win, UConn advances to the BIG EAST Championship game for the sixth time in program history.
The Huskies will play in the 2009 title game on Sunday, May 24 against Louisville at 11:00 a.m.
With its fourth win over South Florida in 2009, UConn improves to 36-23 overall on the year.
UConn Recap
South Florida Recap
Louisville 7 Notre Dame 6
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Junior lefty Justin Marks struck out Ryne Intlekofer in the bottom of the ninth inning to close the 17th-ranked Louisville baseball team’s dramatic 7-6 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night at Bright House Field and clinch a spot in Sunday’s BIG EAST Championship title game against Connecticut.
With the win, the top-seeded and defending tournament champion Cardinals (42-15) avenged their 6-5 loss to the Fighting Irish (35-23) earlier on Saturday and advanced to their second straight BIG EAST Championship title game and their third in four years, where they will face the No. 6 seeded Huskies at 11 a.m. ET. Live play-by-play of the title game will be available over the air in Louisville on WNDA 1570 AM or online through CardsTV at www.UofLSports.com.
Pitching on just two days rest, Marks came out of the bullpen to allow only one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts in 4.0 innings to earn the win and improve to 10-2 overall. With the 10 wins this season, Marks matches Louisville’s single season record for wins held by Zack Pitts (2007), Zach Johnson (2002) and Scott Reburn (1984). Marks also earned his fourth career win in the BIG EAST Championship, which is tied for No. 1 on that list with Villanova’s Rafael Novoa.
Louisville Recap
Notre Dame Recap
