French, Duke combine on 4-hitter, help Texas oust error-prone Louisville from CWS with 4-1 win
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Parker French and Travis Duke limited Louisville to four hits, and Texas manufactured runs in three straight innings to beat the Cardinals 4-1 in a College World Series elimination game Monday.
The Longhorns (44-20) ended a four-game CWS losing streak dating to 2009 and will play Vanderbilt or UC Irvine in another elimination game Wednesday. Louisville (50-17) went 0-2 in the CWS for the second straight year and is 1-6 in three appearances in Omaha.
French (7-5) held the Cardinals to four singles in 7 1-3 innings, and Duke retired their last five batters for his first save.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Louisville sophomore starter Anthony Kidston (9-1) lost for the first time in 15 decisions as a collegian and the Cardinals committed four errors, just as they did in their elimination-game loss to Oregon State last year.
Texas opened the scoring on Ben Johnson's sacrifice fly after Zane Guritz doubled leading off the third inning. The Longhorns added a run in the fourth on Kacy Clemens' RBI groundout and another in the fifth when Mark Payton came home on second baseman Zach Lucas' throwing error.
Louisville pulled to 3-1 in the eighth on Cole Sturgeon's groundout, but the Longhorns scored an unearned run in the top of the ninth to make it a three-run game again.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}French turned in another strong performance after working six shutout innings in a win over Houston in super regionals. He has allowed three runs in 20 innings in three NCAA tournament appearances. The Longhorns' pitching staff has a 1.35 ERA over its last eight games.
Louisville had won 12 of 13 games this season, and 17 of 19 the last two seasons, in games started by Kidston.