Press Release from the University of Louisville:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Louisville baseball team lost 12-6 on Tuesday night at Vanderbilt in the annual Battle of the Barrel.
Louisville (26-23) suffered its fifth consecutive defeat.
Despite the final score, it was the Cardinals that jumped ahead first.
Zion Rose led the game off with a single and Griffin Crain reached on catcher’s interference. Lucas Moore drew a two-out walk to load the bases and Jimmy Nugent crushed a 3-1 pitch out the other way for a grand slam.
The homer was the seventh in the last seven games for Nugent and the fourth grand slam of the season for the Cardinals.
Vanderbilt (28-22) followed by scoring the next 11 runs in the contest.
The Commodores plated a two-out run in the first before taking advantage of a Louisville error and scoring four unearned runs to move in front in the third.
Lightning and rain delayed the game for more than an hour in the fourth, but the Commodores run continued after the resumption with a five-spot in their half of the fourth. A solo homer in the fifth then stretched the margin to seven.
Kade Elam got the Cardinals back on the scoreboard in the seventh, sending a 2-0 pitch onto the concourse above the left field bleachers. It was the fifth long ball of the year for the freshman.
Colton Hartman (3-2) started the game for the Cards and ended up with the loss. The southpaw allowed five runs, only one earned, in three innings with five strikeouts.
The Cardinals wrap up a seven-game road swing this weekend at Miami. The three-game series gets underway on Thursday in Coral Gables, Fla.
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(Photo of Jimmy Nugent: ANDREW NELLES / THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
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