BOX SCORE I PLAY-BY-PLAY

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 10 Louisville scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back as the Cardinals defeated the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team, 14-3, Tuesday night at Jim Patterson Stadium.

It was the Colonels’ (24-25) final road game and the Cardinals’ (43-10) final home game of the regular season.

Freshman right-hander Austin Rexroat (2-2) started on the hill for the Colonels and received the loss, going just 0.2 innings and allowing eight runs on six hits. Only two of the runs scored in the first inning were earned, though, as an error early in the inning should have been the third out.

Tyler Mathis (2-0) earned his second win of the spring, pitching two scoreless innings. The Cardinal staff did not allow a hit until the fifth inning.

Freshman Austin Grisham – a Louisville native – delivered a solid homecoming for the Colonels, collecting two hits and scoring a run. Senior Joey Stevens had two hits and two RBI on the evening.

Phil Wunderlich led the Cards offensively, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Jeff Arnold, meanwhile, led Louisville with a career-high five RBI.

The Cards jumped on Rexroat early as Josh Richmond’s three-run homer to left highlighted an eight-run first inning for Louisville.

Sophomore right-hander Eric Sanders, however, relieved Rexroat with two outs in the first and pitched 4.1 scoreless innings to keep the Cards at bay. Meanwhile, the Colonels finally got on the board in the top of the sixth as Stevens – who broke up Louisville’s no-hitter in the fifth inning – laced a two out, two run single through the left side, scoring Grisham and senior Anthony Ottrando and making it 8-2.

After Louisville plated one in the bottom of the sixth, Ottrando crushed his 17th home run of the season in the top of the seventh, a solo shot to left field that made it 9-3.

The Colonels stayed within six until the bottom of the seventh when Arnold ripped a bases-clearing triple into the right center gap to blow the game back open. The Cards added two more in that inning to make it 14-3.

The EKU baseball team concludes the regular season this weekend with a three game series at home against SIU Edwardsville.