Louisville Bats Catch Fire, Beat the Hoos 11-4

Remember back in January when Duke came to JPJ and started running up and down the court scoring on seemingly every possession? Then the boys got back in the game only to have the Blue Devils get NBA Jam hot from three to cement the Duke win? That's basically what happened to the Cavalier baseball team on Sunday.

Louisville jumped out early, let UVa back in the game, then became the '42 Yankees at the plate to win 11-4.

Perhaps we should have seen it coming given the danger Connor Jones was flirting with in the first four innings. The Cardinals registered six hits through the first four innings alone, leading to three runs (albeit only one of those was earned). But Louisville wasn't done.

The Cardinals scored again in the 5th to take a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the 6th. The Hoos came to life in the bottom half of the inning, stringing together three hits and a walk, including a bases clearing triple from Kenny Towns to tie the game up at 4.

Sadly, Connor Jones was relieved by the bullpen in the 7th, and everything really went to Hell. Over the final three innings, the pen would issue five(!) walks, hit one batter, and allow five more hits, which let the Cardinals blow it out with seven more runs. To be fair, three of those runs came in the 8th after a 2 out error allowed Louisville to extend the inning. As Daily Progress beat reporter Andrew Ramspacher pointed out, the pen hasn't been very good of late.

During this six-home losing streak for #UVa, the Cavs' collective bullpen ERA is 7.86.

— Andrew Ramspacher (@ARamspacher) April 5, 2015

With the loss, the Hoos have now dropped six straight home games. The Cavaliers haven't had such a streak since April of 2002. That streak ended in the 7th game, so UVa could be on the precipice of a streak not seen in Charlottesville for a long time.

The loss also moved the Cavaliers to 6-8 in the ACC, good for 5th in the Coastal division behind Miami, Virginia Tech, UNC, and Georgia Tech.

UVa will look to avoid a sweep on Monday at 7 on ESPNU. Brandon Waddell needs to have a stellar game, and the bats need to come alive.