Be sure to visit 'The Cardinal Nine' for more on today's win, including post-game quotes, notebook and more.
Facing their fifth elimination game of the 2007 NCAA tournament, the University of Louisville did exactly what it had done in it’s previous four outings and came away the winner on Sunday afternoon at the College World Series.
Continuing to have the hot bats, the Cardinals pounded out 18 hits against Mississippi State and continued their historic run by defeating the Bulldogs 12-4 and advancing to the College World Series semis.
Louisville scored in each of the first four innings, primarily by way of the home run ball. Eight of the Cardinals runs were plated by the power hitters.
Logan Johnson connected for his third homer of the College World Series to give the Cardinals a 2-0 first inning lead. Chris Dominguez went yard for the seventh and eighth times in the post-season, connecting for a solo shot in the second and a 2-run blast in the visitor’s half of the 7th inning. Daniel Burton hit his first four-bagger of the season and his 9th of the year when he drove a 3-run shot over the center field wall in the fourth.
Cardinals starter Justin Marks threw 5 innings of shut out ball before a hit up the middle connected with his knee, forcing him to leave the game two batters and a home run later. Marks fanned five and allowed 4 hits during his time on the mound. Kyle Hollander gave up one run in 1.1 innings of work, with Skylar Meade tossing two innings of shutout ball, striking out three.
Louisville will take the field next on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. against North Carolina, with ESPN2 providing national television coverage.
Box Score
2007 Louisville Cardinal Baseball
#8 Louisville Cardinals vs #6 Mississippi State
6/17/07 at Omaha, Nebraska (Rosenblatt Stadium)
Louisville Cardinals 12 (47-23)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Boomer Whiting cf........ 4 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 1
Logan Johnson 2b......... 5 2 2 2 0 1 3 5 1
Daniel Burton 1b......... 6 2 3 3 0 1 8 0 1
Isaiah Howes lf.......... 5 0 3 2 0 2 2 0 0
Jorge Castillo dh........ 5 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0
Chris Dominguez 3b....... 4 2 2 3 0 1 1 3 1
Pete Rodriguez rf........ 4 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 2
Chris Pelaez rf......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Derrick Alfonso c........ 5 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 3
Chris Cates ss........... 5 2 3 1 0 0 1 1 0
Justin Marks p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kyle Hollander p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Skylar Meade p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 43 12 18 11 2 7 27 10 9
Mississippi State 4 (38-22)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Jeffrey Rea cf........... 4 0 3 0 1 0 1 0 0
Joseph McCaskill lf...... 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 2
Nick Hardy ph........... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Edward Easley c.......... 4 1 1 0 1 1 8 0 0
Mitch Moreland rf........ 4 1 2 1 1 0 2 0 1
Brian LaNinfa 1b......... 2 1 0 0 2 0 6 0 1
Brandon Turner 2b........ 4 1 2 3 0 0 4 3 0
Russ Sneed 3b............ 4 0 1 0 0 3 1 2 3
Connor Powers dh......... 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0
Jeff Flagg ph........... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Jet Butler ss............ 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 2
Chad Crosswhite p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Greg Houston p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Tyler Whitney p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Aaron Weatherford p..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Johnson p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 34 4 10 4 6 8 27 9 9
Score by Innings R H E
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Louisville Cardinals 212 300 301 - 12 18 1
Mississippi State... 000 003 100 - 4 10 1
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E - L. Johnson(8); Butler(12). DP - Louisville 3; Bulldogs 1.
LOB - Louisville 9; Bulldogs 9. 2B - Burton(10); Howes(20);
Rodriguez(15); Moreland(26). HR - L. Johnson(16); Burton(8);
Dominguez 2(15); Turner(3).
HBP - Whiting; Dominguez. SH - L. Johnson(2). CS - Rea(4).
Louisville Cardinals IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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Justin Marks........ 5.1 4 3 3 5 5 19 24
Kyle Hollander...... 1.1 4 1 1 1 0 6 7
Skylar Meade........ 2.1 2 0 0 0 3 9 9
Mississippi State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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Chad Crosswhite..... 2.1 7 5 5 0 0 13 13
Greg Houston........ 1.2 3 3 3 1 1 7 11
Tyler Whitney....... 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 5 5
Aaron Weatherford... 1.2 3 3 3 1 2 8 9
Josh Johnson........ 2.0 4 1 0 0 3 10 10
Win - Marks (9-2). Loss - Crosswhite (8-5). Save - None.
WP - Hollander(7); Meade(1). HBP - by Houston (Dominguez);
by Houston (Whiting).
PB - Alfonso(8). Inherited runners/scored: Meade 1/0; Houston 1/0.
Umpires - HP: Mark Ditsworth 1B: Scott Graham 2B: Jeff Heinrichs
3B: Dan Mascorro
Start: 1:06 PM Time: 3:18 Attendance: 18187
Game notes:
Partly sunny, 84 degrees Winds: Out to center 11-17