Louisville tops No. 15 Vanderbilt for third straight Battle of the Barrel win

The Louisville baseball team raced out to a 5-0 lead and didn’t look back on its way to an 8-4 win over rival Vanderbilt Tuesday night in Nashville. The win was U of L’s third straight in the annual Battle of the Barrel game and the fifth straight time the Cards have topped the Commodores in Nashville.

Freshman lefty Reid Detmers (3-1) kept the Vandy offense at bay, allowing just one run on four hits with five strikeouts over 5.1 innings to pick up the win. A balanced Cardinal offense was led by Danny Oriente, Tyler Fitzgerald and Justin Lavey, who each had two hits.

The win over No. 15 Vanderbilt wasn’t just big for rivalry purposes. As the regular season nears an end, Louisville finds itself in the unusual spot of still needing to solidify its postseason resume. Taking down the Commodores on their home field went a long way towards accomplishing that goal.

U of L (30-14, 10-11) now hits the road for a weekend series at Boston College. Things get going Friday at 6 p.m., with games also scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

The box score from Tuesday night can be found here.