LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) \u2014 Michigan State didn\u2019t just spill out of its dugout Friday. It shot out. Think jack-in-a-box with a baseball team inside.<\/p>\n
Not Omaha, but also not February. Maybe like an important series win in conference.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the middle of February everywhere else. In the other dugout, it\u2019s the middle of May.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the price of spending your summers in Omaha. No. 8 Louisville wears that big red target on its back like it was screen-printed there at the team store. Beat the Cardinals and you go home with a souvenir: a story to tell and perhaps a little paint from the bull\u2019s-eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came out ready to play,\u201d Louisville coach Dan McDonnell told radio voice Sean Moth after the game. \u201cYou step out there as a team that\u2019s been to Omaha six times \u2026 that gives the other dugout motivation. \u2026 We always want to be able to bring the juice, bring the energy. We talk about be the lion. Let\u2019s be the ones that hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Louisville got some reminders from the book of baseball:<\/p>\n
Thou shalt not go 1-for-10 with two outs.<\/p>\n
Thou shalt not leave runners in scoring position as if saving them for spring.<\/p>\n
Thou shalt put the ball in play before the statute of limitations expires.<\/p>\n
The decisive blow came from Randy Seymour, who ambushed a fastball in the eighth inning as if it had insulted his heritage. He had already driven in two runs with a fifth-inning single, but this time he administered the full sermon \u2014 depositing the go-ahead home run into left field.<\/p>\n
It put Michigan State ahead 4\u20133 for good.<\/p>\n
To understand the late-inning sequence: Adam Broski\u2019s solo shot in the seventh gave MSU a 3\u20131 edge; Ben Slanker answered immediately with a homer of his own to start Louisville\u2019s half of the seventh, pulling the Cards within one, and Lucas Moore\u2019s RBI single tied it at 3-3 before Seymour had the final word in the eighth.<\/p>\n
McDonnell didn\u2019t mind the fireworks. What stuck with him were the basics.<\/p>\n
This is his 20th Opening Day at Louisville. He\u2019s seen seasons start like NASA launches and seasons start like stubborn lawnmowers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a fine line between winning and losing and we didn\u2019t earn it,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cGive them credit \u2014 they pitched well, they played good defense, and they got some huge hits.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were bright spots. Ethan Eberle \u2014 economical and unfazed \u2014 struck out six in 4.1 innings and surrendered only one run. Lucas Moore looked like the same table-setter he was last year, stealing a bag and knocking in a run. Ben Slanker briefly turned the stereo up with a solo homer that gave Louisville its only lead of the night.<\/p>\n
Louisville had a shot in the bottom of the ninth with a runner at second and one out when Moore was hit by a pitch. A video review, however, showed that Moore’s elbow moved into the ball’s path, and he was called out. Alex Alicea followed with a strikeout, and that was that.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals didn\u2019t finish the small things. And baseball, more than any other game, is built entirely out of small things. They are the bricks in the cathedral. Forget a couple, and the whole thing lists.<\/p>\n
Louisville is now 14\u20136 on Opening Days under McDonnell. It has been to six College World Series. It has outlasted slumps, storms and seasons where nothing grew until March. What it has never done is panic on Day 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere we are, early on,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cLet\u2019s see how this group bounces back. You\u2019ve got to be able to turn the page in Division I baseball, and especially in the ACC. So I\u2019m anxious. I\u2019m ready. I wish we had a doubleheader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course he does. Men who build their lives around 56-game seasons don\u2019t linger.<\/p>\n
And so the story of Opening Day is not the loss, nor the Spartans celebrating. It\u2019s the long road ahead, and the reminder that championships aren\u2019t won on the second Friday of February, but occasionally are lost if you refuse to learn from it.<\/p>\n
The climb back to Omaha begins with bunt-sized lessons: move the ball, play clean defense, give February its space.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d rather win. But you need to learn.<\/p>\n
Cardinal fans will get their first look at right-hander Jake Bean, a transfer from Kent State, in Game 2 Saturday at 1. Lefty\u00a0Wyatt Danilowicz is scheduled for Sunday’s 1 p.m. start.<\/p>\n
More Sports Coverage:<\/p>\n
CRAWFORD | For Louisville’s Kelsey, Baylor is just the next game, even if it’s bigger than that<\/a><\/p>\n Louisville Kings announce bobblehead, T-shirt giveaways for inaugural season<\/a><\/p>\n CRAWFORD | Remembering John Shirreffs, trainer of Giacomo and Zenyatta, who died at 80<\/a><\/p>\n