College Roundup: Cards Keep Rolling

Louisville stretched its winning streak to 10 games with a 9-1 win against Horizon League favorite Wright State. The Cards haven’t lost since their trip to Mississippi three weeks ago, completing a perfect 10-0 homestand. Junior outfielder Logan Taylor’s straight steal of home highlighted Wednesday’s win, the second time in less than a year a Cardinal has pulled that off—Corey Ray did it last April. The Cardinals face another stiff test this weekend in their second Atlantic Coast Conference series at Miami.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: off

(2) Texas A&M: off

(3) Oregon State: off

(4) Louisville: won, 9-1, vs. Wright State

(5) Vanderbilt: off

(6) Miami: won, 5-2, at Central Florida

(7) Louisiana State: won, 9-4, vs. New Orleans

(8) Texas Christian: off

(9) California: off

(10) Virginia: won, 10-8, vs. Towson

(11) North Carolina: won, 11-6, vs. Elon

(12) Mississippi: won, 5-1, at Alabama-Birmingham

(13) Florida State: off

(14) UCLA: off

(15) Mississippi State: lost, 3-1, vs. Oral Roberts

(16) Louisiana-Lafayette: won, 10-1, at Northwestern State

(17) Arkansas: won, 3-2, vs. Grambling State

(18) Michigan: off

(19) Oregon: off

(20) Houston: won, 7-1, vs. Texas Southern

(21) North Carolina State: lost, 11-7, vs. Indiana State

(22) Oklahoma State: off

(23) College of Charleston: won, 4-1, vs. Charleston Southern

(24) Long Beach State: off

(25) Michigan State: off

Speaking of the Hurricanes, Miami has won nine of its last 10 going into this weekend after Wednesday’s 5-2 road win at Central Florida. The Canes scored twice in the top of the first inning, helped along by an error and a wild pitch, and led wire to wire. Leadoff man Carl Chester went 3-for-5, while Zack Collins has reached base in 12 straight games after going 2-for-3 with two walks—Collins is up to 21 walks in 17 games, placing him among the top 10 nationally in free passes as opponents pitch him ever more carefully.

Elsewhere, Louisiana State cooled off hot-starting New Orleans with a 9-4 win in Baton Rouge. The Privateers, coached by former LSU standout Blake Dean, had been averaging over eight runs per game through last weekend on their way to a 13-3 start, but they couldn’t get much going on Wednesday. LSU whole-staffed the game on the mound, using 10 pitchers and none for more than an inning, and held UNO to four runs on eight hits. Antoine Duplantis led the LSU offense, going 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs as the Tigers improved to 13-3.

“I think we’re ready to start SEC play,” Tigers coach Paul Mainieri told lsusports.net. “We’ve improved each week since the season began, and we’ve been able to solidify the positions on our team. There are still some concerns in our bullpen in bridging the gap between our starting pitchers and our late-inning relievers, but we’re continuing to make progress in that area.”

Two Top 25 teams took losses on Wednesday, as Oral Roberts beat Mississippi State 3-1 and Indiana State took down North Carolina State 11-7. The Bulldogs haven’t exactly built on their momentum after sweep a then-top 10 team in Oregon last weekend, losing back-to-back midweek games to Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday and now ORU. The Golden Eagles took the lead for good on Sam Grellner’s RBI double in the top of the sixth, while the ORU bullpen retired nine of the final 10 MSU hitters of the game.

In Raleigh, the Wolfpack fell into a 9-2 hole after a rough outing from Cory Wilder (3.1 IP, 6 H, 6 ER). They were able to claw back to within three runs at 10-7, but they also stranded 11 men on base. ISU added some insurance in the ninth for the final margin of 11-7. The teams will settle for a split of their two-game midweek series, while the Wolfpack will try to bounce back this weekend against Notre Dame.