Louisville baseball falls to Florida State in ACC championship game

The Louisville baseball team’s quest for its first ACC tournament title came to an end with an 11-8 extra inning loss to Florida State Sunday afternoon in Durham.

After falling behind 5-1 in the game’s first three innings, the Cardinals rallied to scored the game’s next six runs thanks mostly to the long ball. Devin Mann mashed a two-run homer, Josh Stowers hit a solo shot, and then freshman Zach Britton’s three-run blast put U of L on top.

Ten walks from the Cardinal pitching staff and three errors from the defense behind the arms ultimately cost Louisville the title. Two of those walks helped Florida State load the bases in the top of the 10th. Drew Mendoza then laced a double to right field that scored what would prove to be the game’s deciding runs.

With the win, the Seminoles became the first team since Wake Forest in 1999 to win consecutive ACC tournaments. FSU also won the tournament title in 2015, and it 16-1 in league tournament games since 2014. The only loss for the ‘Noles over that span came in the 2016 final against Clemson.

Louisville now turns its attention to the NCAA tournament. A win would have put the Cardinals in decent shape to potentially host a regional for the sixth straight season. While that’s still a possibility, the odds would seem to be leaning more heavily towards Dan McDonnell and company having to travel on the tournament’s opening weekend for the first time since 2012.

The field of 64 will be announced Monday at noon on ESPU.