May 19, 2011
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville junior RHP Derek Self allowed just one earned run over 7.0 innings and Ryan Wright went 3-for-5 with a solo home run to lead the Cardinals past Notre Dame, 14-2, in the opener of a BIG EAST series Thursday night at Patterson Stadium.
Notre Dame drops to 21-26-1 overall and 12-12 in the conference, while Louisville improves to 28-26 and 13-12. The Irish fall into seventh place, just one half game ahead of Seton Hall. The Pirates rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game, 2-2 and eventually won in the 11th thanks to consecutive two-out errors from Georgetown. Pittsburgh did edge USF, 6-5, to drop the Bulls 1.5 games behind the Irish.
Notre Dame is still a half game out of fourth place. The magic number for the Irish to secure a berth into the BIG EAST tournament is now one. An Irish victory or USF loss guarantees Notre Dame a spot in the postseason.
Self, who moved into the weekend rotation four weeks ago, improved to 3-2 on the season. He did surrender eight hits, but each was a single. Self struck out one and did not issue a walk.
Irish senior RHP Brian Dupra was tagged with the loss and dropped to 3-6 on the campaign. He was knocked around for nine earned runs on 12 hits. Dupra, who entered the night sixth in the BIG EAST with a 2.37 ERA, struck out five and walked two. He had allowed just 15 earned runs over his previous eight league starts, but was off from the opening batter.
Freshman LF Eric Jagielo went 3-for-4 and sophomore C Joe Hudson went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
The Irish co-captain not only issued a leadoff walk, but also fell behind in the count 1-0 to each of the first four Cardinals in the order. With runners on first and second and one out after an infield single, Stewart Ijames dropped in an RBI single in shallow left field to give Louisville a 1-0 lead. Dupra did get ahead of J.J. Ethel 0-2, but the Cardinals catcher roped an RBI double off the centerfield wall to push the Cardinal lead to 2-0. Cade Stallings followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-0.
Dupra issued another walk in second inning and it preceded another Louisville infield hit to put runners on first and second. Jeff Gardner then slapped a perfectly placed double just inside the left field line to drive in two more Cardinals and spot Louisville a 5-0 lead.
Self retired Notre Dame’s first six hitters of the game before senior 3B Greg Sherry singled to open the top of the third inning, but he induced Hudson into a tailor made double play and senior SS Mick Doyle popped out to end the inning.
The Cardinals extended their lead to 6-0 following a two-out RBI single from Alex Chittenden in the bottom of the third inning. Gardner made it 7-0 with his second home run of the season just over the left field wall. Jagielo kept drifting back as the wind carried the ball to the fence. He reached up over the wall and got his glove on the ball, but it bounced off and over the fence for a solo home run.
Notre Dame finally seemed to solve Self in the top of the sixth inning. Hudson, Doyle and sophomore 2B Frank DeSico collected consecutive singles to cut the Cardinal lead to 7-1. With runners on the corners and nobody out, junior CF Alex Robinson hit a slow roller to third base. Doyle took off on contact, but Stallings fielded the ball cleanly, made an accurate throw to home and Ethel applied the tag in time to retire Doyle. Jagielo followed with another single to load the bases, but Self got freshman 1B Trey Mancini to pop out and senior RF Herman Petzold grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Any momentum Notre Dame gained in the top half of the sixth was erased in the home half of the inning. Chittenden opened the frame with a triple. Robinson made a diving effort to catch the liner, but it ricocheted off his glove into right field. Drew Haynes followed with a ground out to plate Chittenden and Ijames singled with two outs to give Louisville a 9-1 advantage.
The Cardinals plated five runs, four unearned, in the seventh inning and Mancini added a sacrifice fly for the Irish in the eighth to close the scoring.
Notre Dame and Louisville continue their critical BIG EAST series at 7:07 p.m. on Friday at Patterson Stadium. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network. The game can also be heard in South Bend on WHME / Harvest 103.1 FM and around the world at UND.com.
As always, please visit UND.com regularly for full coverage of all Notre Dame athletics news and events.
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