Louisville baseball sees dream season end vs Coastal Carolina. 3 takeaways from Omaha
The Chanticleers' 26-game winning streak continued with an 11-3 win over the Cardinals in the College World Series semifinals at Charles Schwab Field. U of L (42-24) had worked its way through the elimination bracket to earn its first meeting with the Chanticleers since 2002, matching the program's best CWS appearance.
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"I hate losing today. Don't get me wrong," Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. "I wanted to coach them tomorrow. But it's hard for me not to be filled with joy for how this season went and how we got back into this place and made a good run at it."
The Cardinals got off to a slow start and, despite their history of rallying, couldn't recover from the damage to close out their season. After ending the regular season with a 2-1 ACC series loss to Wake Forest, the Cardinals went 7-3 in the NCAA Tournament.
"I know we surprised a lot of people, but we always knew we had it in us. We just brought it out at the right time," Eddie King Jr. said. "I think this team is just so resilient, just the things that we did all year, even guys fighting injuries like Alex (Alicea), (Garret) Pike. It just goes to show this group is really special. We have a lot of talent, and we proved it this year."
Coastal Carolina moves on to play LSU in the national championship series, which begins Saturday.
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Here are three takeaways from Louisville's season-ending loss to Coastal Carolina:
Digging an early hole
All signs pointed to the CWS semifinal game being a blowout when the Chanticleers scored six runs in the first inning. Louisville pitcher Colton Hartman allowed a leadoff hit to Caden Bodine before hitting the next two batters to load the bases with none out. A two-RBI single and walk reloaded the bases when Hartman got pulled for Trinity product Jake Schweitzer.
Four more runs and two hits later, the Cardinals got the final out on a 6-3 play. Coastal Carolina batted around in the first inning, creating a 6-0 deficit for the Cardinals to try to overcome.
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"They just get right out of the gate, and they just put that pressure on you," McDonnell said of the Chanticleers.
Louisville held Coastal Carolina scoreless for three innings before the Chanticleers added four runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Louisville shows fight in sixth inning
True to form, the Cardinals wouldn't go away quietly.
Down 8-0, after giving up two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, Louisville strung together three one-out hits with Tague Davis' double scoring Jake Munroe for the team's first run. Pike and Kamau Neighbors each had RBI singles to trim the deficit to 8-3. But the two couldn't add to the Cardinals' scoring effort as Coastal Carolina recorded the final out to center field.
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Struggles with strike zone
After using six arms against Oregon State, Louisville threw seven pitchers against the Chanticleers. The group hit four batters, which is the most in a game during the Cardinals' CWS appearance, with five walks in the first six innings. The miscues were costly as back-to-back hit batters in the bottom of the sixth inning allowed the Chanticleers to go up, 10-3, with two out.
Peter Michael entered the game in the seventh inning for the Cardinals and held Coastal Carolina to an earned run on one hit with a walk and three strikeouts. Ty Starke relieved him in the eighth and got the final out without giving up a run, leaving one Coastal Carolina runner stranded.
Hartman, whose last appearance was against Wake Forest on May 17, absorbed the loss after allowing five earned runs on two hits with a walk and two hit batters without getting an out in the first inning.
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Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville baseball score: Coastal Carolina eliminates UofL in semis
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