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Four-run first and fourth innings carry Louisville to 9-2 win over Duke

DURHAM, N.C. (theACC.com) – One side of the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship semifinal bracket is complete.

Fifth-seeded Louisville gained the upper hand early and cruised past No. 4 seed Duke for a 9-2 win in Friday’s Pool D final, earning the spot opposite 12th-seed Pitt (29-25) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. game.

The Cardinals (42-16) head into their meeting with the Panthers with wins in 13 their previous 15 games.

Third-seeded NC State (40-15) and Florida State (40-17) will meet at 7 p.m. tonight for the right to face second-seeded Clemson (45-13) in Saturday’s second semifinal at 5 p.m. Saturday’s winners will meet in Sunday’s noon title game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Louisville got out of the gate in impressive fashion Friday morning, sending nine batters to the plate in the top of the first and parlaying three hits, two walks and a hit batsman into a 4-0 lead. Josh Stowers’ two-run single opened the scoring, and No. 8 hitter Zach Britton’s base hit brought home two more.

Stowers has driven in eight runs in two tournament games.

Duke got on the board in the bottom of the third on Zack Kone’s two-out RBI single, but the Cardinals countered with another four spot in the top of the fourth to make it 8-1. Devin Mann keyed that burst with a one-out, three-run double. Mann then stole third and scored on Logan Wyatt’s fly ball to deep center.

Louisville second-team All-ACC starting pitcher Adam Wolf (7-2) worked a solid seven innings, allowing eight hits and one earned run while striking out nine batters without issuing a walk.

Jake Snider finished 3-for-5 at the plate and Mann was 2-for-4 to lead the Cardinals, who collected 11 hits as a team.  Duke’s Joey Loperfido went 3-for-4, while Kone and Jimmy Herron had two hits each.

Starting pitcher Mitch Stallings (3-5) took the loss for the Blue Devils. Stallings was charged with eight runs – all earned – in his 3.1 innings stint. The senior lefthander allowed seven hits while walking two batters and striking out three.

Louisville and Pitt will be meeting for the fourth time in two weeks on Saturday. The Cardinals swept the ACC regular-season series in Pittsburgh May 11-13, winning by scores of 6-3, 6-5 and 8-5. The surprising Panthers turned Pool A upside down in this year’s ACC Championship, posting one-run wins over No. 8 seed Georgia Tech and top-seeded North Carolina to punch their ticket to the semifinals by Wednesday night.

Duke (40-15) remains a virtual lock for a favorable NCAA tournament seed. The Blue Devils entered Friday’s game with an RPI of 20 and were ranked nationally the final 11 weeks of regular season. The NCAA bid will be Duke’s second in the last three seasons under sixth-year head coach Chris Pollard.