Back-to-Back Big Flies Spark U-M to Win Over Louisville, NCAA Regional Title Game

Saturday, June 4

Louisville, Ky.

4:00 PM

Michigan

34-26

Louisville

39-19-1

Louisville

Michigan

Joe Stewart is congratulated by teammates after his third-inning home run (Michigan Photography)

Back-to-Back Big Flies Spark U-M to Win Over Louisville, NCAA Regional Title Game

6/4/2022 8:04:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Watch: Michigan Highlights vs. Louisville Photo Gallery

By: Kurt Svoboda

» Clark Elliott and Joe Stewart connected for back-to-back homers in the third inning to give U-M a 3-1 lead.
» After seeing the first eight batters retired by Louisville ace Jared Poland, Michigan collected nine hits over the next two innings to chase him in the fifth.
» Five U-M pitchers stranded 12 Louisville runners.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Michigan baseball team played a complete game on Saturday (June 4), as the Wolverines took down the No. 7-overall national seed Louisville Cardinals by a score of 7-3 in an NCAA Regional contest at Jim Patterson Stadium.

With the win, Michigan (33-26) advances to the Louisville Regional championship. The Wolverines will play Sunday at 4 p.m. against the winner of a noon matchup between Louisville and Oregon, which eliminated Southeast Missouri State earlier in the day. Whoever wins Sunday's early game will need to defeat the Wolverines twice with an "if necessary" game scheduled for Monday.

Louisville (39-19-1) had many runners early in the action, scoring a single run in the second on a groundout but stranding five runners in a theme for the game as Michigan's pitching staff continually answered the call.

Louisville ace Jared Poland cruised through the first eight batters of the game as he landed all of his pitches. That changed in the third inning when Jake Marti laced a single to center field for U-M's first base runner of the game. Two pitches later, Clark Elliott lofted a two-run homer over the wall in right field and Joe Stewart followed with a solo shot over the center-field wall for a 3-1 Michigan lead.

Louisville added a single run in the top of the fourth on a well-placed two-out single off the bat of Christian Knapczyk, but Michigan scored twice in the bottom of the frame.

Riley Bertram singled sharply with one out, reached second on an error and eventually stole third base as Ted Burton walked. Joey Velazquez followed with an RBI single through the right side after a lengthy at-bat with Burton going to third base. The hustle was key as Marti laid down a safety squeeze on the next pitch, plating Burton with the team's fifth run. Michigan applied further pressure in the fifth to chase Poland in the fifth.

Stewart led off with a hard single to left and moved to third base on a hard single to right from Matt Frey. Jimmy Obertop plated Stewart with a sacrifice fly on a foulout to right field, and a throwing error allowed Frey to move to second. With two outs, Bertram struck again -- this time with a hard single to left field to plate Frey with the seventh run of the game and spell the end for Poland.

Louisville scratched out a run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch and put runners on second and third following a bloop double down the right-field line. Chase Allen came out of the bullpen to strand them both, inducing a lineout and a grounder right back to him. In the eighth inning, Cameron Weston entered the game and got out of a sticky situation with two on, two outs, and Dalton Rushing at bat. Weston got UL's leading home-run hitter to ground out to end the inning. He then cruised through the ninth to earn the save.

In all, the five Wolverine pitchers stranded 12 Cardinals runners. Jacob Denner scattered four hits but allowed just one run to cross the plate in an important outing while Joe Stewart was credited with the win after throwing 2.2 innings of relief.

Seven different U-M batters collected hits, led by Stewart's three knocks in four at-bats.