The first Houston hit is a ball bouncing straight up in the air after hitting the third base bag. The second, immediately following, is a bunt that finds no one from Louisville covering first base.
The UofL baseball team will escape the inning with Houston pushing only one runner across the plate. A horrible start, however, a harbinger of things to come. Looking back, it would have been a good time to turn the channel.
Houston would win the championship game 10-4, denying Louisville’s seniors the satisfaction of winning a conference tournament title during their college career.
That would include Jeff Gardner, Alex Chittenden, Cole Sturgeon, Kyle Gibson and Shane Crain.
A frustrating day for the Cardinals as they were out-hit 16-11, committing a pair of fielding errors and grounding into three double-plays in the first four innings.
The last game in the American Athletic Conference for UofL. At long last.
The Cardinals (45-15) will now await their NCAA postseason fate when the field of 64 teams and regional pairings for the 2014 NCAA Championship are announced on Monday at noon on ESPNU.