By Russ Brown
NKyTribune correspondent
LOUISVILLE — Now that the University of Louisville baseball players have made history, maybe they can do it again Tuesday.
The College World Series was barely 24 hours old and the Cardinals were already more successful than they had been in their previous trips to Omaha. For the first time in four tries, No. 7 UofL (53-10) won its opening game in the CWS Sunday afternoon, defeating Texas A&M 8-4 in TD AmeriTrade Park to advance to Tuesday’s second round at 7 p.m. EDT against No. 3 Florida (47-18), which defeated TCU 3-0 in the nightcap.
The Cards snapped a five-game losing streak in the tournament in winning for the first time in 10 years, their only other victory coming against Mississippi State 12-4 in old Rosenblatt Stadium in 2007 during their first appearance.
Louisville coach Dan McDonnell will send junior righthander Kade McClure (8-3, 3.43 ERA) to the mound Tuesday to face Florida righthander Brady Singer (7,5, 3.29 ERA).
The Gators beat TCU with a standout pitching performance by junior Alex Faedo, who struck out 11 and allowed just two hits in seven innings. Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said immediately after the game that he didn’t know much about UofL except in generalities.
“I know they’ve got a really good shortstop. I know they’re offensive. I know they’ve got pitching. They’re well coached,” O’Sullivan says. “I haven’t spent a whole lot of time with them. It’s one of the things I’ve learned about coming out here, you spend so much time on all three teams in your bracket, and you kind of get lost. Things get kind of lost in the shuffle.
“I’ve really spent all my time on TCU. Obviously, the next two days we’ll spend all of our time on Louisville and try to figure them out. But the bottom line comes down to Singer. It just comes down to our guy on the mound. And if he executes, we’ve got a chance. If he doesn’t, you know, we won’t be successful.”
Florida, which has the nation’s third-best RPI, has built its record on pitching and defense. The Gators’ .262 batting average is the worst among the eight CWS teams, but they have won 18 one-run games, most in the nation.
“We’re a different offense than we’ve been in the past,” O’Sullivan says. “We hit-and-run a little bit more, we (try to steal) a little bit more. But I do know this, your starting pitching has to be top notch and we have top-notch starting pitching.”
Coming into the CWS, McDonnell expected close games, and there’s no reason for him to change his mind when it comes to Florida.
“It’s the same three factors — pitch, play defense and try to get some timely hits,” McDonnell says. “I broke down the last four years, 60-plus games, 38 been won by one or two runs, so 62 percent. What that means is, when you get a chance to score a run, score a run. When you have to cut a team off from scoring a run bring the infield up or turn a double play or whatever, try and do your best to do that. It’s a big park and the home runs been a few more the last few years as the ball changed, but it’s different than a lot of games throughout the year. Just a lot of low-scoring games.”
While the Gators are the higher-seeded team, O’Sullivan noted that the CWS is similar to the NCAA basketball tournament in that regular-season performance can often be irrelevant.
“I take numbers and throw them out the window at this point,” O’Sullivan said. “Virginia a couple years ago was one of the last teams in and ended up winning it. I remember Vandy won it in 2013 and I think they finished sixth in our league. It’s all about winning, and we’ve won a lot of tough games, a lot of ugly wins. But an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, I know that.î
FITCH, BORDNER KEY FIRST WIN
Louisville was able to defeat Texas A&M despite a sub-par performance by two-way national player of the year Branden McKay (11-3). The lefthanded junior, who was taken fourth in the Major League Baseball draft Monday, allowed all four runs on eight hits, tying his season high last allowed against Kentucky in the Super Regional. He struck out six in five innings.
McKay also struggled at the plate, going 1-for-5 and leaving six runners stranded.
But the Cards got strong relief pitching from sophomore Sam Bordner and junior closer Lincoln Henzman, with Bordner pitching three perfect innings before Henzman, who was named national Stopper of the Year this past weekend, closed out the victory in the ninth with only nine pitches.
At the plate, catcher Colby Fitch was UofL’s star, going 2-for-4 with a walk and four RBI, equaling his career high.
“Very happy to be 1-0 for the first time in the history of our program,” McDonnell said. “Fourtunately, our bullpen stepped up like they have all year, and offensively we kept competing. It wasn’t our best game of the year, but we understand now that these games aren’t always the cleanest. There’s too much competition. Everybody’s playing too hard. It’s not supposed to be smooth and easy. You’ve just got to grind it out. And I thought today our guys did a really good job of grinding it out.”
Fitch said Bordner and Henzman were able to shut down A&M (41-22) in part because of their aggressiveness.
“They just came right at the guys,” Fitch said. “There was no dillydallying around with them. They got the first-pitch strikes with them the majority of the time and then after that they were able to work the counts and work the hitters the way coach Williams (pitching coach Roger Williams) wanted the majority of the time.”
McDonnell called Bordner the “X factor” for the Cards this season. The righthander from Baltimore, Ohio, has pitched in the shadow of McKay, Kade McClure and Henzman most of the year. But in 23 games and 44.2 innings, Bordner has posted an 0.43 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 10 walks.
“Sam has been a little under the radar,” McDonnell said. “But when you look at his numbers they’re very impressive. And sometimes when you’re in that first out of the bullpen role or middle relief role, it’s just not as sexy. You don’t get attnetion. But clearly Sam’s been hot all year.”
Louisville scored five runs on six singles in the second inning, saw the Aggies close to within 5-4, then took advantage of an A&M error to score two more runs in the sixth before Fitch delivered an RBI double in the eighth inning for more breathing room.
“Down 5-0 after two and from that point on you have to be perfect to have a chance to beat a team like Louisville,” said A&M coach Rob Childress. “And we certainly had a shot. Offensively, we did a lot of great things and we had opportunities, but we weren’t good enough on the mound to get it done.”