Louisville baseball falls to Michigan, 7-3

If the Louisville baseball team is going to win its ninth regional title in program history, it’s going to have to do so the hard way.

Cardinal ace Jared Poland picked the wrong time to have his worst start of the season, allowing season-highs of nine hits and seven runs as Michigan took down top-seeded U of L, 7-3, Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Louisville is now tasked with defeating Oregon (first pitch noon on Sunday) in an elimination game and then winning two straight over the Wolverines (4 p.m. tomorrow then 6 p.m. on Monday) if it wants its season to survive for at least another week.

U of L finished with 10 hits, but an inability to find the big one (or three) plagued them all afternoon/evening. The Cards left 12 runners on base and were a woeful 2-for-16 in at-bats with teammates on the basepaths.

The day started well enough for Poland, who retired the first eight hitters he faced. A single in the bottom of the 3rd followed by back-to-back Michigan home runs proved to be the beginning of the end.

Let’s do this the long way.