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No. 8 Louisville baseball completes sweep of James Madison

Louisville (8-3) capped off the weekend sweep with strong outings from starting pitchers Nick Bennett and Bryan Hoeing.
Credit: Tyler Comeaux
Photo: Thinkstock

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After a dominant pitching performance on Friday, the eighth-ranked Louisville baseball team followed it up with two more in a Saturday doubleheader sweep of James Madison, winning 11-1 and 1-0 at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Louisville (8-3) capped off the weekend sweep with strong outings from starting pitchers Nick Bennett and Bryan Hoeing. One day after Reid Detmers set his career high with 14 strikeouts, Bennett and Hoeing did the same with 10 and nine, respectively.

For the series, the Cardinals allowed just one run on nine hits while racking up 43 strikeouts in 27 innings.

Bennett had plenty of offense to work with in Saturday’s opener, as the offense went to work in the very first inning. Lucas Dunn and Jake Snider each reached to start the frame and Tyler Fitzgerald cashed in with a RBI groundout to put the Cardinals on the board.

Louisville tacked on two more in the second with Ben Metzinger driving in Drew Campbell on a groundout and Lucas Dunn driving a triple into the gap that scored Zeke Pinkham.

Meanwhile, Bennett (2-0) had things on cruise control on the mound. The junior retired the first 13 batters he faced before a one-out single in the fifth. The baserunner was stranded on second in the inning and the Louisville offense blew the game open in the bottom half.

UofL grabbed a run with its baserunning to start the inning as Jake Snider stole third and was able to score on an obstruction call after the throw got down the left field line. Cameron Masterman piled on with a two-run double for his first collegiate hit and Campbell capped the five-run inning with a two-run single.

Zach Britton added an RBI single in the sixth before James Madison (7-4) scored its only run of the weekend on a solo home run in the top of the seventh. Louisville answered back though, getting a run-scoring single from Trey Leonard in its half of the seventh and a Justin Lavey RBI double in the eighth.

Bennett went seven innings, giving up just the one run on four hits with a career-best 10 strikeouts. Jack Perkins and Garrett Schmeltz each struck out a pair in scoreless innings of relief work.

Saturday’s second game was a pitcher’s duel, as the two sides went scoreless through the first five innings.

Louisville finally broke through in the sixth with the top three in the lineup serving as the catalyst once again. Dunn worked leadoff walk and Snider singled to put runners on the corners. Fitzgerald capitalized on the RBI opportunity again, driving a fly to left that allowed Dunn to score what would prove to be the game-winning run.

Hoeing (2-1) made the run stand up with seven scoreless innings, the longest outing of his Louisville career. The righthander struck out nine and gave up just three hits.

Bobby Miller retired all six batters he faced, four via the strikeout, over the final two innings to record his first save of the season.

Louisville continues its 14-game homestand on Tuesday with a midweek visit from Morehead State. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., ET, at Jim Patterson Stadium.

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