Louisville rolls past Kent State, 13-6, in NCAA tournament opener

Logan Wyatt hit a grand slam in the first inning and a three-run homer in the second to lead Louisville to a 13-6 win over Kent State in the first game of the NCAA tournament opener for both Friday night in Lubbock, TX.

With the win, the Cardinals will face host and No. 9 overall seed Texas Tech Saturday at 8 p.m. The Red Raiders rolled past New Mexico State 9-2 earlier in the day on Friday.

In addition to Wyatt’s big night, the Cards also got a monster effort at the plate from Jake Snider, who went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles, a pair of runs scored and two more driven in. Drew Campbell and Danny Oriente combined for four hits, two RBI and two runs scored, while Josh Stowers reached base safely for the 44th-consecutive game, a new U of L school record.

Adam Wolf worked seven somewhat up and down (by his standards) innings to pick the victory and move to 8-2 on the season. Riley Thompson relieved Wolf in the top of the 8th inning and was able to keep the Golden Flashes at six runs.

Wyatt finished the game with seven runs driven in, tying Chris Dominguez’s school record for most RBI in an NCAA tournament game. Dominguez set the record against Missouri in 2007, which is also the last time Louisville won a regional title away from Jim Patterson Stadium.

Winners of five straight regional titles, U of L has now won 16 consecutive games in the regional round of the NCAA tournament. Their loss came to eventual College World Series champion Arizona all the way back in 2012.

Let’s get a big one tomorrow night.