March 4, 2003

Box Score

Knoxville, Tenn. - Michael Rivera went 5-for-5 and Luke Hochevar tossed seven shutout innings to extend his scoreless innings pitched streak to 18 1/3 as the No. 22 Tennessee Volunteers once again played for the big inning as they thumped the Louisville Cardinals, 18-2, at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Tennessee (10-1) coupled a six-run fourth inning and an eight-run eighth around a one-run fifth and a three-run seventh in the rout.

Hochevar (3-0) no-hit the Cardinals through the first 4 2/3 innings before being touched for two hits in the fifth. He gave up just four singles with six strikeouts and two walks.

Michael Rivera had a double and scored four times while driving in two.

Home runs by Nick Crowe and Brian Cleveland provided most of the damage in the eighth. Crowe hit a three-run blast off the scoreboard in right while Cleveland followed three batters later with a two-run shot to left.

Jordan Czarniecki, Kyle Norrid and Josh Alley each added two hits for the 19-hit Volunteer attack. Norrid, Walter Sevilla and Chad LeGate drove in two runs apiece as well.

Louisville (7-2) plated its two runs in the ninth off Blake Crigger, making his debut. Luis Pardo, who had two of the Cardinals' six hits, singled home a run while a Vol error contributed to the other.

Zach Jackson (0-1) took the loss in six innings of work. He was tagged for seven runs (four earned) on nine hits. Brian Halford and Clif Novak closed out the game.

The Vols started by loading the bases on a single, a walk and a bunt hit by Rivera that fell perfectly between the third baseman and shortstop. A sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Norrid gave Tennessee a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back Cardinal errors, followed by Sevilla's two-run single capped the scoring as Tennessee grabbed a 6-0 lead.

Norrid added his second RBI in the fifth as Tennessee extended its lead to 7-0. The Vols used four hits, including an RBI double by Alley in the seventh, to push the margin to 10-0.

Game two of the series is Wednesday at 3 p.m.