LOUISVILLE – Cold weather conditions didn't stop Louisville from hosting Butler on Tuesday afternoon as the two teams came together at Patterson Stadium for the Cardinals season opener. Butler got an RBI from Drew Small in the top of the ninth, but the deficit was too large to overcome pushing Butler's overall record to 0-7.

Ryan Wojciechowski went 2-for-4 from the plate and Austin Miller scored the lone run of the game for the Bulldogs. Louisville was led to victory after a 3-for-3 game from lead-off man Sutton Whiting. The middle of the order was also a large factor in the final outcome as Nick Solak and Corey Ray combined for six RBIs against BU.

Louisville scored one run in the first, two in the third, three in the fourth and four in the seventh to reach their grand total of 10. Ray doubled to left center in the bottom of the first to open the scoring and the combination of Whiting along with Ray increased the Cardinal lead to 3-0.

Louisville doubled their advantage to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth by scoring three runs off three hits. The damage could have been worse as the Cardinals left three runners on base. Butler avoided even more runs against them by putting Josh Goldberg on the hill. Goldberg relieved Tyler Rathjen of his duties and responded by getting Zach Lucas to pop out to the catcher.

The Cardinals put the game out of reach by scoring four more runs in the seventh inning. Danny Pobereyko took the mound to start the inning and quickly loaded the bases with two walks and a single. A third walked batter put one run on the board and a hit batter followed by a pitching change pushed the lead to 8-0.

Connor Mitchell surrendered a two-RBI single to the third batter he faced, but got Butler out of further trouble by recording three strikeouts.

Butler avoided the shutout by scoring a single run of Dale Chandler in the ninth. Austin Miller came up with a one out single to left field and Chris Maranto walked to put two on. Mike Kseniak entered the game to load the bases with a single to right field and a fielder's choice from Small sent Miller home for Butler's lone run of the day.

Butler used five total arms on the day with Peter Nyznyk taking the loss. Nyznyk and Rathjen each gave up three earned runs and Pobereyko's outing put the game out of reach as four more baserunners went against his ERA.

The Bulldogs will return to action with a three-game series at East Tennessee State this weekend.