NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WDRB) — It took Patrick Forbes exactly six innings to make Louisville baseball history Friday.
It may have taken Matt Klein a little longer — and a whole lot more — to get back on the field. But the results were just as powerful.
In his NCAA Tournament debut, Forbes struck out 13 East Tennessee State batters, matching his career high and breaking the school record for strikeouts in an NCAA postseason game as Louisville opened regional play with an 8-3 win at Vanderbilt’s Hawkins Field.
“I just thought he was a strike-throwing machine,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell told Sean Moth in a postgame radio interview. “He gave us a lot in an emotional outing.”
The right-hander gave up a two-run homer in the third but allowed just two hits over six innings. He struck out eight of the nine hitters in the heart of ETSU’s order (Nos. 3-5), who finished a combined 0-for-8 against him.
“I definitely wanted the ball today,” Forbes said. “It’s hard to be in this program and not want to compete.”
His performance — and 18 Louisville strikeouts overall — helped the Cardinals (36-21) win their 12th straight NCAA regional opener, the longest active streak in NCAA Division I. They’ll face No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt Saturday at 9 p.m.
But it wasn’t all Forbes.
Klein, back in the starting lineup for the first time since fracturing his hand in March, blasted a two-run home run in the fifth inning that helped Louisville break the game open.
“That was huge,” Forbes said. “Having him back, and then seeing him go deep like that — definitely a boost.”
Said Klein: “I’m just happy to play with this team again. That was the goal — to get back and play one more time with these guys.”
Louisville used just two pitchers — Forbes for six innings and reliever Brennyn Cutts for the final three. Cutts struck out five and allowed a solo home run in the eighth, giving Louisville a new postseason strikeout record in the process.
Eddie King Jr. went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Klein and Lucas Moore also drove in two runs apiece, and Garret Pike added two hits and an RBI.
The Cardinals’ 8 runs came on 9 hits, including three home runs — from Moore, Klein and King. It was only the second time all season that McDonnell had been able to use the starting lineup most had projected for the team before the season started, thanks to injuries.
But on a day of milestones and momentum, McDonnell couldn’t help but appreciate the complete picture — a near-full lineup, a dominant outing, and a long-awaited return.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season,” he said. “(It) feels like we're as close to 100 percent as we've been in a long, long time.”
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved. This story was compiled with raw game data, team releases and postgame transcripts via ChatGPT and close editing by the staff of WDRB Sports.
