Louisville baseball falls to Clemson in ACC Tournament, 5-3

Two days after the Louisville baseball team belted four home runs in a 9-5 win over Wake Forest, the Clemson Tigers returned the favor. The No. 6 seeds touched Cardinal pitchers for four long balls on their way to a 5-3 win in the second ACC Tournament game for both teams.

The loss by U of L -- which snaps a 10-game winning streak -- means the Cardinals will need significant help to advance to Sunday's championship game. Louisville needs both a win over Virginia tomorrow night, and Wake Forest victories over the Cavaliers later today and over Clemson tomorrow to advance to the title game. If any of those three things don't happen, then the Cards will be turning their attention to the ACC Tournament after tomorrow night's game.

It was an uncharacteristically off day for Brendan McKay on the hill Friday. The reigning John Olerud Award winner walked five batters, threw three wild pitches, allowed three home runs and four total runs over 5 1/3 innings. The performance dropped McKay to 11-3 on the season.

It was also an off afternoon for Louisville's other superstar, Corey Ray. The junior outfielder went 0-for-5 at the plate, and made the last out of the game when he lined out to shortstop with two Cardinals on base in the top of the 9th.

Regardless of what happens in the next 30 hours or so, it's important to remember that Louisville's top five national seed is a stone cold lock at this point. The Cards are still the No. 1 team in the RPI ratings, and they're still going to be playing both their regional games and (hopefully) super regional games at Jim Patterson.

That said, you always hate to see a double-digit winning streak come to an end. They'll be back at it tomorrow night at 7 with ACC Pitcher of the Year Drew Harrington on the bump.