May 14, 2002

Louisville, Ky. - The University of Akron baseball team dropped a non-conference doubleheader to the University of Louisville Tuesday afternoon at Cardinal Stadium. The Cardinals, who improved to 37-13 on the season, downed the Zips, who fell to 18-29, 3-1 in the opener and 6-2 in the second of a pair of seven-inning games.

Louisville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first game on an unearned run in the second and back-to-back doubles by Dave Williams Jr. and J.T. LaFountain and in the third.

The Zips cut the lead in half in the fourth on an RBI single by Darek Stanfield, who went 2-for-3, but the Cardinals added an insurance run in the fifth and thwarted an Akron rally in the sixth. The Zips put runners on the corners with two outs, but Carlos Fernandez, who picked up his fourth save of the season with two shutout innings of relief, induced an inning-ending groundout from Greg Kulick.

Pat Watt, who started for the Zips and pitched four and one-third innings, took the loss and dropped to 2-2 on the year. Josh Ring (8-3) started and pitched three shutout innings to pick up the win.

In the second game, the Cardinals jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with three runs in the first and a pair in the second. Mark Jurich, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI, knocked in the first run of the game with a run-scoring double and U of L scored two more in the frame via a hit batter and groundout double play. LaFountain and Jurich added RBI singles an inning later.

After Louisville added another run in the third, the Zips got on the board with a pair of runs in the fourth off reliever Clif Novak. With one down, Dan Swallie hit his team-high 11th homer of the season before Brady Steineck doubled home Tim Lindhe. But after Lou Pederi walked, a fly out by Jim Bonnette and popup by Andy Capraroulo ended the rally.

Louisville relievers Mike Tisdale, Willie McKenzie and Grant Williams combined to hold Akron scoreless over the final three innings.

Mike Eilers pitched the first three innings and picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season, while Frank Mendoza (4-7) took the loss after going two innings and surrendering five earned runs on four hits.

Akron completes its 2002 slate this weekend with a four-game series at Bowling Green. The teams will play a single contest Friday, a doubleheader Saturday and one game Sunday. First pitch Friday is set for 3 p.m. (CDT). Saturday and Sunday's games start at 1 p.m.