LOUISVILLE – The Toppers experienced a case of deja vu last night, losing 7-6 at Louisville in a fashion eerily similar to last year’s match-up at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Western (15-7) trailed until senior right fielder Chad Cregar’s grand slam in the fifth inning gave the team a 6-5 lead, but the Cardinals (16-6) scored twice in the bottom of the eight inning to secure the win.

“In-state rival – it’s always a big game,” Cregar said. “It’s very disappointing. We just need to finish games.”

Cregar did his best to keep the Toppers from going home with another defeat at the hands of the Cardinals, hitting his second grand slam of the year in the top of the fifth and making a diving catch to end the inning with two Louisville runners on base.

But the Toppers couldn’t create runs during the next three innings, stranding four runners and leaving two in scoring position.

“One through nine – we’re all dangerous hitters, I think,” Cregar said. “We’re all capable of putting up numbers in the bottom of the eighth, bottom of the ninth, whatever. We just couldn’t do it tonight.”

Senior pitcher Ben Paxton (1-1) hit Louisville junior catcher Jeff Arnold with a pitch to start the Louisville half of the eighth inning, then walked sophomore designated hitter Drew Haynes. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt, then scored on a single by junior second baseman Adam Duvall that set the final score.

“It was a good ball game, and both teams played pretty well,” coach Chris Finwood said. “We just made a couple mistakes on the mound there in the eighth. You can’t hit a guy, walk a guy in the eighth inning of a one-run game.”

In Western’s last game at Louisville on May 29, 2008, the Toppers took a 7-5 lead into the eighth inning but saw it slip away when then-sophomore third baseman Chris Dominguez hit a grounder that was misplayed for a two-run error, giving the Cardinals an 8-7 margin.

Part of Western’s game plan yesterday involved shutting down Dominguez, now a junior and a preseason first team Collegiate Baseball all-American as well as the Sporting News’s preseason Player of the Year.

Dominguez was 0-for-2 with two walks in this year’s contest.

“We weren’t going to let him beat us,” Finwood said. “The kid’s an all-American, and you don’t want their best player to beat you.”

Overall, Western’s relieving pitchers beat themselves, limiting the Cardinals to three hits in five innings pitched but walking four batters and hitting one with a pitch.

“Walking guys and hitting guys is how you lose,” Finwood said. “You’ve got to eliminate that against good ball clubs if you’re going to beat them.”

Junior starting pitcher Bart Carter went four innings, giving up five runs on seven hits, including two home runs.

Carter has given up 31 hits in 22 innings pitched this season, but he said the biggest problem with his game is mental.

“Every day we talk about something that’ll help you break that barrier, and I think I’m getting there,” he said. “I think I’m breaking down that wall.”

The Toppers will face Virginia Commonwealth this weekend in a three-game series, beginning at 6 p.m. tomorrow at Nick Denes Field.