LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The first pitch of the University of Louisville baseball team's fifth trip to the College World Series sailed over the left field fence off the bat of Vanderbilt’s Austin Martin.
It was a harbinger. Despite a gutsy effort by ace Reid Detmers on a day when he didn’t have his best stuff, the Cardinals fell prey to a Vanderbilt team that did get its best stuff from Martin, who became just the second CWS player to hit two homers in a game in TD Ameritrade Ballpark. That was all the offense Vandy needed in a 3-1 victory before a crowd of 22,704 in the opener for both teams.
Big games sometimes hinge on a handful of pitches or swings of the bat. This one certainly did.
The matchup of college baseball’s two winningest programs since 2010, with 27 Major League Baseball draft picks between them, figured to hang on whose stars shone the brightest. And nobody was better than Martin, who now has homered four times in his past two games.
That was particularly disappointing for Louisville coach Dan McDonnell, who said in the end that he felt the Cardinals let Vanderbilt's best player beat them -- something you never want to do.
"It hurts when their best player beats you," he said. "And obviously nothing against J.J. (Bleday) or anybody else on their team, I'm sure there's days he's their best player, but I'm sure they have more than one best player, but obviously you could say their best player beat us today."
Louisville had its chances. After tying the game 1-1 in the fifth on an RBI single by Henry Davis, the Cards followed with two more consecutive hits to load the bases with one out but couldn’t bring anyone else across.
"That was definitely the turning point in the game where we missed out on an opportunity, but I still felt like we could win," Davis said. "I think everybody still felt like we could win after that point. Everybody seemed like they were seeing the ball, getting good swings, putting good at-bats together."
That inning came about after McDonnell challenged his team during a dugout huddle. He just didn't feel the same kind of edge that had typified the Cardinals' effort during the Super Regional.
"I don't want to take a lot of credit," McDonnell said. "I mean, I just pulled up the dugout and just challenged the energy in the dugout, just challenged our hitters. Until somebody bangs a fastball, he's just going to cut us up. Until you bang a fastball. And fortunately that inning we put some good swings and we got some hits, and unfortunately with the bases loaded and one out we couldn't get any more."
Detmers, after giving up the leadoff homer and walking the leadoff batter in each of the next three innings, retired six of his next seven. He gave up just a run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings, despite walking a career-high six batters.
"You've just got to work through it," Detmers said. "I kind of struggled finding the zone early on, and you've just got to go out there and compete and give it your best."
Martin’s heroics came in the seventh inning on a Bryan Hoeing changeup.
“I’m feeling really good at the plate, like I’m seeing the ball well,” Martin told ESPN after the game. “I’m just not putting too much pressure on myself, going out and playing the game.”
Vanderbilt closer Tyler Brown came on with one out and one on in the eighth and set down four straight hitters before Zach Britton gave the Cards a final chance with an infield hit. But Louisville’s Logan Wyatt flew out to the warning track in center field to end the game.
Louisville outhit Vanderbilt eight to five, but the Cardinals didn’t get the hits that mattered most and left 10 runners on base. The also went just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
So Louisville moves to the loser’s bracket, where it will face the loser of Sunday’s second game between Mississippi State and Auburn, at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
It's not new territory for the Cards this season -- they fought back from an early loss to win in the NCAA Regional. But, in Omaha, the job is much tougher.
McDonnell, speaking to his team after the game, urged his players to regain the edge they had in the Super Regional sweep of East Carolina. Facing elimination, the Cardinals have little choice.
"I just challenged them a little bit," McDonnell said. "I didn't think we played our best baseball, looked a little bit like our first two games in the regionals, and maybe it's having our back against the wall, maybe it's playing with a little more edge. We always say we have to be who we are, and we play a certain way, a certain style with a certain type of energy, and I just didn't think we were that today."
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