Louisville takes game two in twelve innings, ties series at one

The Durham Bulls (32-30) defeated the Louisville Bats (23-38) 9-7 in 12 innings on Wednesday to even the six-game set at one at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

After holding Louisville scoreless in the top of the first, Durham got going in the bottom half of the inning thanks to RF Josh Lowe’s RBI double before LF Luke Raley gave the Bulls their first homer of the series with a two-run shot. After Louisville scored two runs on a Durham error, the Bulls responded in the fifth as 1B Jonathan Aranda went yard with a solo shot to expand the lead to 4-2.

The Bats refused to go away, however, as SS Jose Barrero went the distance at the plate on a solo shot in the eighth to cut the deficit back to one before Juniel Querecuto’s game-tying RBI single. In the ninth inning, Louisville scored the go ahead run to go up 5-4 off of a Bulls fielding error before Durham SS Tristan Gray’s sacrifice fly drove in the game tying run to force extra innings.

Entering the twelfth tied at 6-6, an RBI single from Barrero gave the Bats a 7-6 advantage, while 1B Christian Santana’s two-run single stretched the lead to 9-6. In the bottom of the inning Bulls CF Cal Stevenson ignited an RBI double to the wall to trim the deficit to two, however the Bulls were unable to generate any more hits as Louisville secured the win.

Bulls pitcher Easton McGee got the starting nod on the mound, throwing six innings, allowing two runs on three hits, and ringing up seven strikeouts. Durham relief pitcher Zack Erwin picked up the loss and Louisville pitcher Matt Pidich picked up the win.

The Bulls and Bats will be back in action at the DBAP on Thursday for game three of the series, and first pitch is slated for 6:35 pm. LHP Josh Fleming (6-0, 0.98) is expected to start for Durham and LHP Justin Nicolino (1-1, 8.38) is scheduled to start for Louisville.

Tickets for that game and all remaining 2022 home dates can be purchased at DurhamBulls.com/tickets.