Chad Green Earns Victory for Louisville; Kaskaskia Splits

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Junior right-hander Chad Green pitched seven strong innings while junior catcher Kyle Gibson paced the offense with three hits as the No. 4 Louisville baseball team earned a 6-1 victory over visiting Xavier in Friday’s series-opener at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Starting his fifth straight Friday game while going seven innings for the third time this season, Green (Effingham, Ill./Effingham HS) allowed only one run on six hits with four strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 3-1 on the season. Entering the game with the Cardinals’ holding a three-run edge, junior right-hander Dace Kime (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance HS) followed Green with two innings of shutout relief, including a pair of strikeouts, to earn his first career save.

Gibson (Henderson, Ky./Henderson County HS) matched a career high with three hits in his four at-bats to go with an RBI and a run scored as Louisville improved to 14-2 overall with its fifth straight win. Senior second baseman Nick Ratajczak (Joliet, Ill./Gulf Coast CC) added two hits, including a double, and a run scored, while senior first baseman Zak Wasserman (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore HS) chipped in with a single and two RBI in the win.

Sophomore outfielder Mike White belted his first career home run, a two-run missile to right field in the eighth inning of a tie game, to lift the fourth-ranked Louisville baseball team to an 8-6 win over Xavier Saturday evening and complete a weekend sweep at Jim Patterson Stadium.

White (East Orange, N.J./Salisbury HS) blistered a 1-0 pitch from Xavier reliever Scott Klever to score junior catcher Kyle Gibson (Henderson, Ky./Henderson County HS) and push Louisville back ahead for good. The win capped a doubleheader sweep for the Cardinals (7-0 win in Saturday’s first game), who improved to 16-2 overall with their seventh straight win. The loss dropped the Musketeers, who were swept for the first time this season, to 6-11 overall.

The home run capped a 2-for-4 day the plate for White, who also added a career best three RBI and two runs scored in the win. Gibson, who preceded White with a one-out single to center in the eighth inning, was 2-for-4 overall with a double and two runs scored. Junior third baseman Ty Young (Coatesville, Pa./Malvern Prep) added three hits, two RBI and a run scored, sophomore shortstop Sutton Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa./Louisville Ballard HS) chipped in with three hits, including a triple, to go with an RBI and a run scored, and senior second baseman Nick Ratajczak (Joliet, Ill./Gulf Coast CC) added two hits, including a double, and two runs scored for the Cards.

Kaskaskia Splits

Kaskaskia split a doubleheader Saturday against John A. Logan. In game one, John Logan won 8-0 behind the strong pitching of former Teutopolis pitcher Derek Thompson. Thompson went the distance in nine innings and gave up just one hit.

The only hit was by Kyle Floyd, former Windsor standout. Steven Reynolds of Mount Zion took the loss. Thompson is 3-1 on the season.

In game two, Kaskaskia edged out John Logan 1-0 on a five-hit shutout by Joey Coonrod. Kaskaskia is now 8-4 overall and 4-2 in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference.

At Charleston

Austin Peay took game two of the weekend Ohio Valley Conference baseball series, 5-2, over Eastern Illinois Saturday afternoon at Coaches Stadium.

The Governors (17-2, 2-0 OVC) took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, scoring two runs on two hits. Brant Valach hit a solo home run in the following inning to cut the Panthers (3-14, 0-5 OVC) deficit to one (2-1).

Austin Peay added three unanswered runs to take a 5-1 advantage, scoring two runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth inning. Treysen Vavra hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 5-2, but the Panther comeback fell short as they dropped their ninth consecutive game.

Austin Peay had two more hits (8-6) than EIU and committed two more errors (2-0). Both squads left nine runners on base in the contest.

“We left a lot of guys on base this afternoon,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “We battled for all nine innings, but we didn’t get the big hits we needed to drive in our base runners.”

Joe Greenfield (1-2) took the loss for EIU as the junior pitcher allowed five runs and eight hits in seven innings of work. The Orland Park, Ill., native also had four strikeouts. Vavra led the Panthers at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Luke Bushur, T-town graduate, pitched one inning and did not allow a hit and walked one.

“I thought Joe (Greenfield) did really well today as did Luke (Bushur) in relief,” Schmitz added.

Casey Delgado (3-1) earned the win for the Governors, striking out four and allowing three hits and two runs in six innings of action. Tyler Rogers posted his eighth save of the year, retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth inning.