LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Western Michigan trailed No. 7 ranked Louisville 7-6 through three and a half innings, but the Cardinal offense proved too much down the stretch and WMU fell in game one of a three-game series Friday at Jim Patterson Stadium, 21-8.
Western Michigan's eight runs are the most scored against the Cardinals in five games this season. Tabbed as the American Athletic Conference preseason favorite, UL is coming off a school record 51 wins last season and a College World Series appearance.
WMU took a 1-0 lead in the first when junior shortstop Andrew Sohn tripled down the right field line to score senior Theo Piccirilli, who had gotten on base with a single to left field. The Cardinals answered with three runs in the bottom of the second.
Piccirilli again scored in the third after reaching on error to put the Broncos down one, 3-2. Sophomore catcher Brett Sunde drove in the run with a two-out single to right.
Louisville opened a 7-2 margin with four runs in the bottom of the third, but WMU fired back with four runs in the top of the fourth to again pull within one.
Sophomore Brandon Cable led off with a double to left field and a walk by junior Caleb Canton gave WMU two on with no outs. Both runners moved up a base on a sac bunt and Cable was able to score on a groundout by freshman Grant Miller. Piccirilli and Sohn worked the count for two-out walks to load the bases for junior Jared Kujawa who cleared the bags with a triple to right center.
That would be the closest WMU would come to pulling off the upset as UL went on to total 14 runs over its final four at bats. Big innings for the Cardinals included a four-run fifth and a five-run seventh.
WMU scored again in the fifth and the seventh, both off of RBI singles by Miller, who finished the game 2-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs.
Dan Shutes entered the game defensively in the third inning and went on to collect two hits, going 2-for-3. Piccirilli had the one hit in the first, scored three runs and walked twice. Sohn also had a pair of walks and went 1-for-3.
Although given the loss, senior LHP Steve Laudicinia tied a career high with eight strikeouts, facing 22 batters in 3.2 innings. As a pitching staff WMU struck out 12 Cardinal batters.
The Broncos (0-4, 0-0 MAC) seek their first win on Saturday in game two of the three-game series against No. 7 Louisville (4-1, 0-0 AAC) at Jim Patterson Stadium. Expected starter for the Broncos is junior college transfer Chad Mayle (0-1, 6.00 ERA) against Kyle Funkhouser (0-0, 4.76 ERA). First pitch is at 1 p.m.
