Indiana’s Joey DeNato Shuts Down Louisville 2-0 in CWS

The Louisville Cardinals had only been shutout once this season and that was the first game of the season, a 2-0 loss against no other than the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana would hand the Cardinals their second shutout loss of the season, a 2-0 victory for the Hoosiers in the College World Series opener and their first win in Omaha in school history.

Indiana was led by starting pitcher Joey DeNato, who went the distance in registering a complete-game shutout. DeNato surrendered just four hits and struck out eight batters, while walking three.

Along with Kyle Hart, DeNato has helped anchor an inconsistent starting rotation that has had 11 different starters this season. In 17 starts this season (coming into the game), DeNato has posted a 9-2 record and 2.76 ERA in 94.2 innings of work.

The Hoosiers would strike early Saturday evening, as Will Nolden led off the game by drawing a walk. Later in the first inning, Kyle Schwarber would rip a single to center field, scoring Scott Donley and giving Indiana an early 1-0 lead.

Nolden would lead off the third with another walk, followed by a single by Schwarber and a walk by Sam Travis. Louisville starter Chad Green would be replaced by reliever Cody Ege, who would surrender an RBI single to Michael Basil. Louisville would escape further damage on an outfield assist by Coco Johnson on the Basil RBI single, gunning down Schwarber at the plate, and a Dustin DeMuth groundout.

At this point the score sat in the favor of Indiana at 2-0, which would remain unchanged for the rest of the game.

DeNato would hold the Louisville offense in line for the complete duration of the game, giving up just three base hits and a double to Adam Engel in the bottom of the eighth. Despite a masterful start by DeNato, the fact that he tallied up a 136 pitch count can be a concern for the Hoosiers as DeNato will more than likely be slated to start down the stretch if Indiana continues a winning pace.

As for Louisville, the only highlight of the evening would be the strong relief effort by Cody Ege, who pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings, while surrendering just three hits and striking out six.

Indiana will now face Mississippi State on Monday, whereas Louisville will face Oregon State in the losers bracket (the winner of the losers bracket game will face the loser of the Mississippi State vs. Indiana game on Wednesday).