Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- For seven innings, the Elon Phoenix baseball team went toe-to-toe with the eighth-ranked Louisville Cardinals, but an explosive eighth inning by the home team saw the maroon and gold suffer a 10-1 defeat in the first of a three-game series.

Elon (20-16) was the first to score, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth.  The inning began with a Sebastian Gomez single to right.  After he moved to second on a wild pitch, Ryan Kinsella ran his hitting streak to 13 games with a single to center to put runners on the corners.  Gomez then scored on a double play ball.

Louisville (26-7) knotted the game at one in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an Elon error that came after Dylan Clark fanned the first hitter of the inning.  The runner stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before a walk put runners on the corners.  Cole Sturgeon then tied the game with a single to center.

The game remained 1-1 until the last of the eighth when Coco Johnson connected on the first pitch he saw for a one-out homer to left to score the deciding run.  The Cardinals kept the attack up and finished the inning with nine runs on six hits to provide the final margin.

Clark (4-3) suffered the loss and was ultimately charged with six runs (five earned) on 11 hits in 7.2 innings.  For the third time in his career, the lefty fanned eight hitters - a personal best.

The win went to Chad Green (5-2) who threw a career-long 8.0 innings.  He gave up one run on five hits.

The Phoenix and Cardinals will play game two of the series on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.