UofL BIG EAST baseball tournament champions, will host NCAA regional

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Louisville came into the Big East baseball tournament as the No. 1 seed and the Cards delivered, winning another Big East crown with an 11-3 win Sunday against sixth-seeded Connecticut at Bright House Field.

“We were excited about playing with a lot of momentum coming into the week,” said designated hitter Phil Wunderlich, one of several players who sported Mohawk haircuts. “We just wanted to keep rolling, but stay hungry. We knew we won the regular season, but we have a lot more baseball to play.”

The Cards (44-15) also found out later Sunday that the NCAA selected Louisville as one of 16 host cities for the first round of the NCAA tournament. Tournament seedings will be announced Monday.

Wunderlich hit home runs in each of Louisville’s last three games and crushed another three-run shot Sunday to seal the victory in the top of the ninth inning.

The Cards got an unexpected boost from freshman pitcher Tony Zych, who pitched six strong innings, allowing one run in just his second career start.

“Like a lot of freshmen, we threw him to the fire,” coach Dan McDonnell said. “He’s been in a lot of pressure games this year as a closer and reliever — we knew he was prepared for this, and he did a great job of throwing strikes.”

Zych left with a 6-1 lead, but Connecticut made things interesting, scoring twice on four hits in the seventh. The Huskies had the tying run at the plate with two outs, but reliever Gavin Logsdon got Nick Ahmed to strike out.

UConn (36-24) hit into two inning-ending double plays and left runners at third base in four other innings. The Huskies had the bases loaded in the ninth, but reliever Neil Holland struck out first baseman Mike Nemeth, who had a solo home run among three hits.

“We didn’t get enough timely hitting,” Connecticut coach Jim Penders said. “It was an early enough game where I couldn’t get to Mass this morning, and maybe Dan McDonnell got to Mass. It seemed like they got a lot of breaks early. But they earned it. They didn’t give us anything for free.”

Louisville and Connecticut each had 11 hits, but the difference was hitting in the clutch, like the first inning, when freshman Ryan Wright hit a two-run double with two outs.

First baseman Andrew Clark, who finished the tournament with 11 hits and eight RBIs, was one of five Cardinals named to the all-tournament team, along with Zych, Phil Wunderlich, Ryan Wright and Jeff Arnold.

“They make our lineup scary,” McDonnell said. “Our 3-4-5 are as good as anybody’s in the country. “The expectations were very high for this club. The bull’s eye continues to get bigger and bigger for this program, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.”

courtesy of The C-J