No. 11 Baseball Drops Heartbreaker to UofL
| LINESCORE | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| UM | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| UofL | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| PITCHING | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||||
| W – B. McKay (2-0) | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| L – B. Garcia (1-1) | 1.1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |||||||
| UM – G. Iskenderian | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| UofL – Z. Lucas | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| PLAYER OF THE GAME |
|---|
 Danny Garcia | Soph. | LHP
With Miami scuffling in the early innings, Garcia entered in relief and shut down Louisville, allowing just two hits in 4.0 clean innings of work. |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 11 Miami dropped a heartbreaker of a series finale at Jim Patterson Stadium Sunday, falling to host No. 17 Louisville on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Cardinals two-way player Brendan McKay helped his own cause by sending a single into shallow rightfield off Miami closer Bryan Garcia (1-1) to plate the winning run.
McKay (2-0) pitched the final two innings in relief and picked up the win.
Miami, who dominated offensively in a doubleheader Saturday, collected just five hits on the afternoon, with two coming off the bat of junior George Iskenderian.
Iskenderian, who recorded three-hit games in both legs of a doubleheader Saturday, finished the weekend 8-for-14 (.571). The junior third baseman bumped his average to .400 over the three-game series.
For the second consecutive game, Miami got off to a hot start – this time thanks to Iskenderian – to take an early lead. The New Jersey native belted a two-out RBI double into the left-center gap in the bottom of the first inning, as the speedy Ricky Eusebio raced home all the way from first base and slid in safely.
Louisville responded with a two-out rally of its own, taking a 2-1 lead on a two-RBI single from Zach Lucas through the leftside off Miami starter Derik Beauprez.
Miami plated three runs in the top half of the third to regain the advantage. After Carl Chester opened the inning with a walk, Iskenderian connected on an infield single to put two runners on base with two outs. A groundball from Willie Abreu towards second base was botched by Devin Hairston to score Chester and tie the game.
Junior David Thompson’s two-RBI double to left gave Miami a 4-2 lead early in the game.
But Beauprez lasted through only two full innings, as he struggled with command to open the third. After loading the bases on a double and two walks, Beauprez issued his fourth free pass of the outing to force in a run, cutting Miami’s lead to 4-3.
Sophomore Danny Garcia then entered in relief and held Louisville to an RBI groundout, keeping the score locked at 4-4 heading into the middle innings.
Garcia was dominant through 4.0 innings of relief, keeping the Cardinals off the scoreboard. He needed just 44 pitches to get through his stint, which was his longest in relief this season.
Miami travels to FGCU Tuesday before opening a five-game homestand Wednesday against Stetson. First pitch for Tuesday’s game against FGCU, slated for broadcast on WVUM 90.5 FM, is set for 6:30 p.m. at Swanson Stadium.
