(Photo by Matt Brown)
“It’s pretty obvious what happened. Our tail was kicked tonight. We never got into a rhythm. I’d be shocked if we’re not chomping at the bit tomorrow. I hope [our team] is not looking for a motivational speech [from me]. – Louisville Manager Dan McConnell after the Cardinals 12-0 loss at the hands of Cal State Fullerton.
Well, I don’t think a pregame speech would have hurt. The Cardinals were confident that Big East Pitcher of the Year Justin Marks could carry Louisiville to a third game, but Fullerton was all over Marks early. Leadoff batter Christian Colon was hit by a pitch, then reached 2nd on a balk. Gary Brown reached on a bunt to the third base side of the mound, which was fielded by Marks but he subsequently fell over and no play was made. Fellhauer then knocked in both Colon and Brown, who stole 2nd on the first pitch of the AB, with a single to right. Fellhauer then stole 2nd on a failed pickoff attempt, with Jared Clark doubling him in for the 3rd run of the game with no outs recorded. The Titans scored another in the first on a Garneau sac fly, and another in the 2nd on a Gary Brown infield single.
Louisville was able to get on the board with Chris Dominguez’s 24th homerun of the season. Dominguez watched the ball leave the yard from the batters box, prompting words being exchanged Dominguez and both Noe Rameriz and Dustin Garneau. Rameriz was amped up after being shown up, striking out the next two batters and getting Jeff Arnold to pop out to Joey Siddons at third, who stared down the Louisville dugout before exiting the field of play. Rameriz retired Louisville in order in the third, giving a fist pump after striking out Richmond.
The Cardinals looked poised to strike in the bottom of the fourth with Dominguez slated to bat third in the inning. Duvall singled to center, but Andrew Clark grounded into a 4-6-3 Double play, leaving no one on to drive in. Dominguez then took a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left for his 2nd of the day, and 25th on the season.
Justin Marks sailed through the 3rd and 4th innings, but ran into trouble by beaning Fellhauer (8th HBP in 2 games) and walking Clark and Davis with nobody out. Fellhauer scored and Clark advanced on a Garneau sacrifice fly, as Davis got into scoring position by stealing on the 0-0 pitch to Shima. Dan McConnell went ahead and went to the bullpen at this point, ending Marks’ worst outing of the season and relieving him with the reliable Freshman Derek Self, who retired Shima and Scott to end threat.
Louisville had the chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the 5th when with two outs, Colon made an errant throw to first on a Dao grounder. Rameriz then issued a walk to Haynes, and then struck out Josh Richmond for the third time to end the inning. Louisville had one on for Dominguez n the bottom of the 6th, but Rameriz rung up the All-American looking for his career high 9th strikeout.
Clark led off the 7th inning with a towering homerun to center that hit the ESPN camera tower over the blue monster,making the score 7-2. After a pair of 1-out infield hits by Garneau and Shima, Joe Scott singled through the hole to right, scoring Garneau and advancing Shima to third. Siddons reached on a throwing error by John Dao on a relatively easy 6-3 attempt, scoring Shima and advancing Scott to third. Colon drove in two on a double down the line, driving the nall in the coffin for Louisville. Cal-State Fullerton would take on four more runs as they rolled to another victory and a trip to the College World Series as they outscoured Louisville 27-2 in the two games.
