Posted by Brian Bennett
Editor's note: ESPN.com's Brian Bennett will check in frequently with updates from the Louisville Regional. For live scores throughout the NCAA tournament, click here.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Dan McDonnell urges his Louisville baseball team to play every regular-season game like it's the NCAA tournament, even though that has its share of drawbacks.
"They've seen me lose my mind at times on a Tuesday afternoon where I'm sure they're thinking, 'Why is he so uptight?'" McDonnell said. "It's not easy, it puts a lot of pressure on them and it's taxing. But I want them to be comfortable when it comes to the postseason."
When it came time for the top-seeded Cardinals' first NCAA regional game Friday night, they were a lot more relaxed than No. 4 seed Indiana in an 8-2 Louisville victory. Part of it stemmed from playing at home before a record crowd. Part of it came from Louisville's tournament experience versus the newbie Hoosiers. But it's also because McDonnell's team plays without fear in the postseason.
Louisville scored its first five runs on just three hits, capitalizing on three Indiana errors and taking every advantage on the base paths. The fifth inning provided the perfect example.
Chris Dominguez led off with a routine single to center field that he turned into a double on sheer hustle. With two outs, Hoosiers first baseman Jerrud Sabourin dropped a popup down the right-field line, and Phil Wunderlich motored home all the way from first to score behind Dominguez.
In the second inning, the Cardinals forced third baseman Vince Gonzalez into hesitating on a chopper largely because both their runners were sprinting toward their bases. Both ended up safe, and Gonzalez was charged with an error. Later in the inning, Cardinals catcher Jeff Arnold scooted from second to third on a sacrifice fly after right fielder Chris Hervey failed to hit the cutoff man. Arnold would then score on another sac fly.
"When you run in another team's face, that's a good feeling," Dominguez said. "We try to play very aggressive, and that's our style of baseball. Whenever we can take the extra base, we try to do that."
That aggression helped Louisville build an early lead against one of the best pitchers in the country, Indiana's 6-foot-5 right-hander Eric Arnett. He walked four and hit three batters. The Hoosiers, who also allowed a run on a wild pitch, hadn't been in the NCAA tournament since 1996 and played like it.
"When you're at this level and you're facing a good team and a good pitcher, you've got to take every out you can, and we didn't do that tonight," Indiana coach Tracy Smith said. "We made mistakes tonight we normally don't make. I wish we could do a do-over so our guys could slow it down."
Experience was not a problem for Louisville. Dominguez and starting pitcher Justin Marks were key members on the 2007 College World Series squad, while their younger teammates played in an NCAA Regional last year. Marks, the Big East Pitcher of the Year, looked every bit like a crafty veteran while holding the Hoosiers to just four singles in seven innings.
Marks, who pitched twice in last week's Big East tournament, said afterward that he didn't have his best stuff on Friday night even though he had eight strikeouts.
"I know he's pitched better than that," McDonnell said, "but I don't know if he's ever been as courageous and competed as well as he did tonight."
Marks and the other Cardinals simply raised their games for tournament baseball, something they've been preparing for since February.
ESPN.com Staff
