Olt's Two Homeruns Not Enough as UConn Falls to Louisville 14-5

Connecticut vs Louisville Cardinals (3/20/08)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (March 20, 2008) — Freshman Mike Olt (Branford, Conn.) recorded two solo homeruns as the University of Connecticut baseball team fell to the University of Louisville 14-5 in the first game of the three-game BIG EAST Conference series on Thursday afternoon at the Patterson Stadium.

The Huskies fall to 7-9 overall and 2-2 in BIG EAST play while Louisville improves to 10-5 on the year and 1-0 in the conference.

Olt connected early for the Huskies as he hit a lead-off homerun over the right field wall to lift UConn up 1-0 early in the top of the second inning. But the Cardinals were able to answer back in the bottom of the inning as a lead-off triple by Louisville's Jeff Arnold showed trouble for the Husky defense. Tyler Mickits followed with a groundout to second but was able to record the RBI to tie the game. Nate Holland was able to poke a single through the left side of the field then stole second to get into scoring position for the Cardinals. Drew Haynes then stepped up for the Cardinals by hitting a double to right center to score Holland.

Louisville added two more runs in the third as Chris Dominguez singled to left before Derrick Alfonso was hit by a pitch to get on base. A fielder's choice by Arnold scored Dominguez to extend the Louisville lead before Mickits smacked a ground rule double to center to score Arnold from second, after he stole the base.

But the Huskies did not give up as Olt led off the top of the fourth with a double to left center, marking his team-leading fifth of the season. Sophomore Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) was then given first as he was hit by the pitch to put runners on first and second before freshman Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) recorded his third double of the season to score both Olt and Fatse to pull within one run.

In the bottom of the fourth Haynes hit a hard shot that got away from UConn centerfielder Harold Brantley, Jr. (Silver Spring, Md.) to mark his second double of the season. A triple by John Dao scored Haynes to give the Cardinals a 5-3 lead before UConn starting pitcher Trent DeLazzer (Cypress, Calif.) was taken out of the game after giving up nine hits and six runs in three innings pitched. Louisville kept attacking in the fourth, picking up three more runs to extend their lead to 8-3.

The Cardinals added five more runs in the fifth to go ahead 13-3 as Erik Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) allowed seven hits, seven runs and three walks in his two innings thrown.

UConn rallied in the eighth inning led by Olt's second homerun of the game but the Huskies were only able to score two runs, which was not enough for the powerhouse BIG EAST opponent.

Olt finished the game with a 3-for-4 performance while adding three runs scored and two RBIs for the Huskies. Nemeth added two RBIs in UConn's loss.

Louisville's Zack Pitts earned the win for the Cardinals as he went six innings while allowing five hits and three runs.

UConn will return to action on Friday at 3:00 p.m. against the Cardinals while Saturday's series finale will begin at 1:00 p.m. Both games will feature a live video webcast at Huskies All-Access, which can be found at www.UConnHuskies.com.

 -UCONN-