Louisville beats Bellarmine 14-2

Louisville Head Coach, Dan McDonnell, and Bellarmine Head Coach, Chris Dominguez, added an impromptu game Wednesday evening to help unite the city and honor the victims from the shooting that took place Monday morning. Rather than each team lining up down their designated baseline during pregame announcements, Louisville and Bellarmine stood side-by-side with members from the other team, symbolizing unity.

Such a moving tribute.

I cannot imagine playing a game after that, but the Cardinals (25-7, 7-5 ACC) were locked in against their crosstown opponent. For the first time since March 3, 2020, against Morehead State, Louisville recorded a 20 hit game, finishing with 21.

Isaac Humphrey (3-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB) led the Cards with 3 hits while Will Cook (1-2, HR, 2 RBI) belted his second home run of the season.

JT Benson, Jack Payton, Eddie King Jr., Haven Mangrum, Brandon Anderson, and Logan Beard each chipped in with two hits apiece. It appeared as if the baseball looked like a beachball tonight as Louisville batters only struck out twice.

Will Koger got the start in place of Kade Grundy, who had been the midweek starter, but Koger struggled to find the zone early on. In 1.2 innings, Koger allowed 1 ER on 2 H, 3 BB, and a HBP before he was replaced by Evan Webster.

Koger, who has shown tremendous strides from a season ago, has still displayed some control issues. When he has a good feel for the ball and is finding the zone, he has been dominant. With a little more consistency, watch out, the sky is the limit for him. Prospects Live tabbed Koger as the No. 97 draft prospect in the 2024 class.

Webster (W, 1-1) tossed the next 1.1 innings of shutout baseball, getting out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning in just one pitch.

From there, Kaleb Corbett, Greg Farone, Alex Galvan, Ben Wiegman, Kade Grundy, and Cameron Robinson would each throw one inning. Robinson gave up a home run in the top of the 9th, but the other five pitchers recorded clean innings.

Many have asked about Farone’s relief appearance after starting in the weekend rotation for the last 6 weeks. All signs point towards him moving back to the bullpen. If this were to happen, I anticipate that Riley Phillips would move into to the rotation against Wake Forest.

Speaking of Wake Forest, Louisville will host the Demon Deacons, the No. 2 team in the country, for a three-game series this weekend. All three games will be played on ACCNX (this is me rolling my eyes that two top 10 teams can’t even play on the conference network). The schedule is as follows:

Friday @ 6:00 PM

Saturday @ 1:00 PM

Sunday @ 1:00PM

Let’s pack Jim Patterson Stadium this weekend!