Prasco Walk-Off in Extra Innings Sends Leopards to Districts – Baseball
#2 Louisville 3, #7 Manchester 2, 8 Innings
The #2 seed Louisville Leopards Baseball Team earned a walk-off 3-2 eight inning victory over the #7 seed Manchester Panthers in the DII Louisville Sectional Finals Wednesday Evening at Andy Aljancic Field. With the victory, Louisville improves to 19-8 on the season and advances to play #3 Seed Tallmadge in the District Semifinals on Monday, May 20 at 5:00 PM.
Caleb Prasco hit a walk-off RBI single to right field with 1 out in the bottom of the eighth to send the Leopards to the District Tournament for the second straight season. Broc Pickens walked to start the inning. After an out, Pickens stole second to put the game winning run in scoring position. Prasco delivered the walk-off two pitches later.
Louisville never led until the final play of the game. Manchester struck first in the top of the second when Zevin Dietry drove in Chris Macko on a sacrifice fly. The Panthers also took advantage of multiple Leopard miscues to go ahead 2-1 in the top of the sixth. A walk and a pair of errors loaded the bases with one out. Then a balk allowed Tyler Young to advance home from third to put Manchester ahead again.
Louisville got out of the sixth inning on a rare double play. Th Panthers offered and failed at a bunt attempt and a pickle between third and home ensued. Shortstop Davis Burick ran down the runner, but then noticed another Manchester runner attempting to steal third. He threw to Left Fielder Bryce Zuppe who applied the tag in front of third base for the final out of the inning.
The Leopards countered each of the Panthers runs to knot the game at 1-1 in the third and 2-2 by the end of the sixth. After two quick outs to begin the bottom of the third, Dom Mongiardo reached base on an error and then advanced to second when Zuppe drew a five pitch walk. Cam King followed and delivered an RBI line drive single to right that scored Mongiardo from second to tie the game at 1-1. Both King and Zuppe led Louisville with two hits a piece.
Manchester recaptured the lead in the top of the sixth, but the Leopards answered back on a wild sequence in the bottom of the frame. Burick walked to start the inning and Dillon Rebuck sacrificed him to second. Max Hartline followed with a single and stole second to put both baserunners in scoring position. Two batters later, Cam Lingle fouled off 6 pitches before working the count to 2-2. On the ensuing pitch, Lingle offered at pitch that went to the backstop and reached first via the dropped third strike. Burick came home for the game-tying run as a result.
Lingle earned the victory on the mound despite only pitching a single out, which was a groundout to himself. Lingle improved to 4-0 on the season with the win. Starter Andrew Gray pitched 4 strong innings giving up a single run on 2 hits and striking out 4. Jordan Shearer also pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief giving up just one unearned run on 2 hits and fanning 3.
UP NEXT: The Louisville Baseball Team will next face the #3 Seed Tallmadge Blue Devils in the DII Louisville District Semifinals on Monday, May 20 at 5:00 PM at Andy Aljancic Field.
VARSITY BASEBALL BOX SCORE
LEOPARDS 3, PANTHERS, 8 INNINGS
Team 123-456-7–R-H-E
Manchester 010-001-00-2-4-2
Louisville 001-001-01–3-7-3
MANCHESTER PANTHERS BASEBALL VARSITY BATTING STATS
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Summers | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Paljich | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Macko | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Caster | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wike | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Dietry | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Shover | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Harris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Schuler | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mayer | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 25 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
MANCHESTER PANTHERS BASEBALL VARSITY PITCHING STATS
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paljich | 7.0 | 117 | .632 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Summers | 0.1 | 8 | .500 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 7.1 | 125 | .624 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
LOUISVILLE LEOPARDS BASEBALL VARSITY BATTING STATS
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryce Zuppe | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cam King | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Davis Burick | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Dillon Rebuck | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Max Hartline | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Broc Pickens | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cam Lingle | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Caleb Prasco | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dom Mongiardo | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Austin Cummings | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Andrew Gray | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Jordan Shearer | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 28 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
LOUISVILLE LEOPARDS BASEBALL VARSITY PITCHING STATS
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Gray | 4.0 | 61 | .607 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Jordan Shearer | 3.2 | 54 | .574 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Cam Lingle | 0.1 | 5 | .600 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 120 | .592 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
Records: Louisville 19-8
