All Entries Tagged With: "Big East baseball tournament"

Chalk Up No. 40, Advance To Championship

Justin McClanahan is feeling no pain. The thumb is just fine now, thank you.  The back? no problem.

McClanahan appears to have fully recovered from the thumb injury that sidelined him for the first nine games this season. as well as an aching back that bothered him in recent weeks.

The proof came Friday as the University of Louisville baseball team mowed down Villanova 13-6 to move into the championship game of the Big East Tournament, McClanahan leading the way, U of L improving its record to 40-19.

Check this out: Two home runs, including a grand slam. Five hits in six at bats. Seven runs batted in. Eleven total bases. Three runs scored.

The pride of amateur baseball in Annapolis, Md., has raised his batting average to .379, with 93 hits in 247 at-bats. He has 10 homers and 56 runs batted in.

   Thomas Royse, the freshman righthander from Lexington, picked up his fourth win without a loss in relief, scattering four hits, striking out three, and allowing three runs over six innings.

  Righthander Zack Pitts (6-5), once considered the ace, is not as effective as he once was, lasting only two innings, giving up three runs in the second. Somewhat of a concern in post season play.

  Chris Dominguez smashed his 20th home run this season, along with a single, pushing three runs across the plate.

  Championship game against Cincinnati Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will be telecast on ESPN-U. Get the yard work done early.

Moving Forward

Take the day off, Cards. Soak in the whirlpool, absorb the lineament, be ready to go again Friday morning.

Mercy rule prevails after seventh inning, Louisville slicing Villanova 14-3 in a cacophony of 16 hits, almost half of them for extra bases. One of them an opposite-field 19th home run of the season for Chris Dominguez.

Top-seeded St. John’s is gone from the Big East Baseball Tournament, hammered again, this time by Seton Hall, 12-6. Domers out, too, courtesy of West Virginia, 13-6.

The Cards will meet the winner of Thursday’s Villanova-Seton Hall game on TGIF day at 10 a.m. and then again at 5 p.m., win or lose.

Championship is Saturday at 1 p.m.