Full Bracket
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – No. 10 seed ECU (47-17) fell 14-1 to No. 7 seed Louisville (48-16) in the opening game of a 2019 NCAA Baseball Super Regional in Louisville, Ky. on Friday. The best-of-three series continues Saturday from Jim Patterson Stadium at Noon ET on ESPNU. The Pirates earned their fifth overall Super Regional bid and first since 2016 after winning the Greenville Regional.
Score: Louisville 14, ECU 1 | ECU Recap | Box Score
WP: Detmers (12-4)
LP: Agnos (11-3)
Highlights
Seven Louisville batters posted multi-hit outings, as the Cardinals pounded out 18 hits in a 14-1 win over ECU in the first game of the Super Regional. After the game remained scoreless through the first three frames, Louisville tallied at least two runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings on the way to clinching the series opener.
Tyler Fitzgerald went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and four runs scored to lead Louisville at the dish. The Pirates were held to seven hits, as Spencer Brickhouse drove in the only ECU run of the game with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning.
The first game of the Super Regional started off as a pitchers’ duel between two conference Pitchers of the Year. ECU starter Jake Agnos (11-3), The American’s leader in strikeouts and ERA, squared off against Louisville’s ace and ACC Pitcher of the Year Reid Detmers (12-4). Agnos retired the first 10 batters he faced but ran into trouble in the fourth inning, giving up four runs on five hits, including three doubles. He ended the day with five strikeouts and took his third loss of the year. Detmers fanned six batters through 7.0 innings, giving up five hits, one earned run and two walks to earn his 12th win of the season.
ECU got runners on in the opening inning with Alec Burleson’s 23rd double of the year, followed by a walk from Jake Washer with two down in the inning. However, the Cardinals found the final out of the frame to strand the pair of Pirate base runners and eliminate ECU’s early threat. Making his 17th start of the year, ECU’s All-America southpaw struck out the side in order in the home half of the first frame on the way to setting The American’s all-time career record in Ks with 293. Agnos went on to retire the next seven batters.
ECU threatened again in the top of the third, as Bryant Packard led off the inning with a single to left field before Burleson was hit by a pitch to put another two runners on with two down. A wild pitch placed the Pirates in scoring position before Detmers struck out Jake Washer on a full count to escape another jam. Each of the Pirates’ first three hits came with at least one out in the inning.
Louisville then took a 1-0 lead with its first two hits of the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back doubles from Logan Wyatt and Fitzgerald, respectively. Danny Oriente followed with a bases-clearing double down the right field line to make it a 4-0 game with one out. The Cardinals cranked out five hits in the inning before Agnos ended it with his fifth punch out of the contest.
The Pirates went to their bullpen in the fifth inning, as Louisville tacked on another five runs on six hits and one error to extend its lead to 9-0. ECU got on the board in the top of the sixth with a blast over the right field wall from Brickhouse. However the Cardinals’ offense continued to produce runs, scoring three more in the sixth and two in the seventh to seal the 14-1 victory.
2019 NCAA Baseball Championship | Super Regional - Louisville, Ky. | Jim Patterson Stadium
Friday, June 7
Game 1: Louisville 14, ECU 1
Saturday, June 8
Game 2: ECU at Louisville.................Noon (ESPNU)
Sunday, June 9
Game 3: If Necessary ..........................Noon (ESPN2)
All times Eastern