OMAHA, Neb. – A pair of home runs proved to be the difference in the 2019 College World Series opener for the Louisville baseball team, as the Cardinals took a 3-1 loss against Vanderbilt on Sunday at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
Louisville (49-17) drops into the elimination bracket, where it will take on either Auburn or Mississippi State on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT.
“I didn’t think we played our best baseball,” head coach Dan McDonnell said. “Hopefully we get back to who we are on Tuesday.”
A full CBD Photo Gallery of the game is available by clicking here.
Vanderbilt (55-11) opened the day with a bang, homering on the very first pitch of the bottom of the first inning to take the early lead. A single and a walk put two more runners on in the frame, but Reid Detmers worked out of trouble with a strikeout to limit the damage to just one.
The Commodores threatened again in the second with runners on the corners and nobody out. Detmers buckled down again though, getting a strikeout and a double play to keep the game at 1-0. The southpaw stranded two more runners in the third, biding his time until the offense got on the board.
Louisville finally broke through in the fifth, with Justin Lavey starting the rally with a one-out double inside the third base bag. Henry Davis then hammered the very next pitch back through the middle to score Lavey and knot the game up at one apiece.
Lucas Dunn followed with a single to centerfield of his own and Logan Wyatt added a fourth consecutive hit to load the bases with only one out. The Cardinals couldn’t capitalize on the run-scoring opportunity however, as a foul pop up and groundout left the bases loaded and the game tied.
The contest remained all even at one until the seventh, when Vanderbilt took the lead on a two-run home run that would turn out to be the game-winning hit.
Louisville got a runner to second in the eighth, but couldn’t get him home, and then brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth with two away before Wyatt’s fly ball ran out of steam in deep centerfield to finish the day.
Detmers took a no-decision on Sunday, allowing just the solo home run in 5.2 innings of work. The sophomore surrendered three hits on the afternoon, his seventh start of the season with three hits or less allowed.
Bryan Hoeing (3-4) was hit with the loss after giving up the two runs in the seventh inning. Michael Kirian was perfect across 1.2 innings out of the bullpen.
Davis had the lone multi-hit performance of the day for the Cardinals, going 2-for-4 with the run-scoring single. Wyatt drew his 69th walk of the season to tie Kevin Malone’s single-season program record. Zach Britton added a pinch-hit single in the ninth inning to improve to 12-for-20 this season in a pinch-hitting role.
