May 29, 2009

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Cardinals get high Marks in win over Hoosiers

By Jimmy Jones

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com
 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Top-seeded Louisville capitalized on three Indiana errors to treat their standing- room only partisan crowd to an 8-2 win to advance into the winners’ bracket against the number two seed Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on Saturday.

The Cardinals’ formula for the win was very simple. They were very aggressive on the base paths as they have been all season, took maximum advantage of their eight hits, played solid defense and made the most of every opportunity afforded them by their opponent’s mistakes.

Their starting pitcher Justin Marks (11-2), a junior, was brilliant through seven innings, allowing just four hits and two runs to pick up the win.

Marks (left), the Big East Pitcher of the Year, struck out eight batters and the Cardinals (45-15) shut down Indiana (32-26) to just two runs after they had been averaging 11.8 runs per game in their run to the Big Ten Tournament championship.

The Big Ten's co-pitcher of the year, Eric Arnett (12-2), gave up five runs with only one of those earned as he was victimized by his defense on three occasions. He allowed just five hits over seven innings to pick up the tough-luck loss.

Phil Wunderlich went 2 for 4 with two RBI, including a bases-loaded single to break the game open in the ninth, and had a run scored for Louisville, who had beaten the Hoosiers twice during the regular season.

The crowd of 4,605 set a Jim Patterson Stadium record, erasing the previous mark of 4,211 established in their win over Oklahoma State during the 2007 Super Regional.

Indiana will face off with Vanderbilt in an elimination game on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Cardinals meet the number two-seeded Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at 7 p.m.

(photo by Jimmy Jones)