Tiny bout of control costs McClure

The smallest of mistakes in baseball can make a huge difference.

And be the difference between a win and a loss.

That’s how it played out for Kade McClure and the Louisville baseball team June 20 at the College World Series.

A momentary lack of control — on an otherwise solid outing by McClure — cost the Mentor graduate big time against the Florida Gators in a 5-1 loss.

McClure, a 6-foot-7 righthanded junior, started for the Cardinals in a key winner’s bracket game. A win would have put Louisville within one game of the best-of-three championship series.

That’s the position Florida is in, and the Cardinals now must win three games in three days to get to that series.

McClure’s pitching line wasn’t elite, but it wasn’t bad either.

He surely would have liked to have two home runs and one big walk back, especially the latter.

No matter the level of baseball, free passes have a way of becoming the ultimate bugaboo.

“I like the way he’s attacking the zone,” Louisville coach Dan McConnell said during ESPN’s telecast about McClure’s outing. “It was that one mental lapse.”

The lapse occurred in the fourth inning with Florida leading, 1-0, on Dustin Longworthy’s third-inning home run.

McClure started the inning strong, retiring the first two batters on a flyout and groundout.

Up to that point, McClure had not had a threeball count on any hitter. Then, with Nelson Maldonado up, McClure could not find the plate and issued a four-pitch walk. A single by the next batter put two runners on, and Deacon Liput followed with a three-run home run to right.

The line shot came on a 1-2 fastball that was down and in. Liput hit a pretty good pitch.

Sometimes, that’s the lesson of baseball. A good pitch isn’t always rewarded. Most times, though, a simple mistake such as one walk can be a dagger to the heart.

McClure regrouped after the fourth with a 1-2-3 fifth that featured two strikeouts. In the sixth, he again pitched a perfect inning with another strikeout and two ground outs.

He was done after six, and allowed just three hits, but two homers. He walked just one, and struck out nine in an 88-pitch night.

McClure threw just 28 balls on this night.

The four straight he threw in the fourth changed the inning — and the complexion of the game.

Now, Louisville is in must-win mode the rest of the College World Series.

McClure might get another chance to pitch if the Cardinals keep winning.

If he doesn’t and the White Sox draft pick forgoes his senior season and signs, McClure will take a valuable lesson to pro ball.

NATI HARNIK — ASSOCIATED PRESS Florida’a Deacon Liput (8), is mobbed by teammates after he hit a three-run home run against Louisville’s Kade McClure during the fourth inning June 20 at the College World Series.