LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Toledo baseball team pushed a No. 2 Louisville squad to the limit, but eventually came up short in a 5-4 loss at Jim Patterson Stadium on a cloudy Friday afternoon.

The Rockets (14-28) and the Cardinals engaged in a pitcher's dual early as Toledo's Steven Calhoun and Louisville's Brendan McKay were solid to open the game. Four home runs, two by each team, was the extent of the offense against the starters.

Toledo struck first in the top of the second inning with a solo home run by sophomore Ross Adolph. With two outs, Adolph deposited the first pitch of the at-bat over the wall in in right-center field to make the score 1-0.

Louisville (36-6), 18th in the country in runs, were shut out by Calhoun in the first four innings on four singles. In the fifth inning, Josh Stowers hit his first career home run to tie the game at 1-1.

After a scoreless sixth inning, UT regained the lead in the seventh. Sophomore Riley Campbell sparked the inning with a lead off double and junior Matt Hansen reached on a five-pitch walk. Junior Dalton Bollinger came to the plate and unloaded on an 0-1 fastball, sending it over the left field wall to push the Rockets ahead, 4-1.

The Cardinals matched the rally with three runs of their own in the bottom half. A single and a walk put two runners aboard when Stowers connected for his second home run of the contest.

Louisville scored the game-winning run on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly.

Calhoun (3-3) takes the tough-luck loss for 7.1 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, two walks and two strikeouts. McKay (6-3) takes the win with Sam Bordner recording the save.

The Rockets and Cardinals meet for game two of the series tomorrow, April 29, at 1:00 p.m.