LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Omaha baseball team faced its highest-ranked opponent of the Division I era Friday afternoon, falling 7-2 to No. 6 Louisville at Jim Patterson Stadium to open a three-game weekend series. The Mavericks are now 1-5 (0-0 Summit League) on the season, while the Cardinals improve to a perfect 5-0 (0-0 ACC).

Sophomore Parker Smejkal paced Omaha at the plate, delivering two singles for a 2-for-4 day and half of the Mavericks' total hits.

Two-time All-American Brendan McKay (2-0) earned the win for UL, limiting the Mavericks to two runs -- one earned – while scattering a pair of hits with five strikeouts and four walks over 5.0 innings of work. Senior southpaw Sam Murphy (0-2) took the loss, surrendering five runs -- four earned -- on 11 hits and two walks while striking out three in 6.0 innings.

The UL bullpen got a combined four shutout innings from Adam Wolf and Lincoln Henzman, who threw 3.0 and 1.0 innings, respectively, and allowed a hit and a walk apiece. Wolf struck out three in his relief appearance.

Louisville posted 15 hits for the day, led by Logan Taylor's 3-for-4 showing with two runs scored and two more driven in. Five other Cardinal hitters had multi-hit efforts: McKay (2-for-3, one RBI), Tyler Fitzgerald (2-for-3, one run), Devin Mann (2-for-4, one run, two RBI), Colby Fitch (2-for-4, one run, one RBI) and Colin Lyman (2-for-4).

Omaha faced an early deficit as the Cardinals scored first for a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff double down the left field line by Taylor and a full-count walk by Fitch put two runners on, and a double steal moved both into scoring position. Mann immediately singled to left, driving in both for a two-run advantage.

Omaha got a run back in the top of the second, capitalizing on three miscues by Louisville, which had previously not committed an error in its first four games. Junior Cole Patterson reached on a throwing error and advanced on a wild pitch, then went to third as redshirt freshman Andrew Hall when UL misplayed his sacrifice bunt. Sophomore Jack Kalina then reached on an errant throw, which allowed Patterson to score and cut the Cardinals' lead in half at 2-1.

Louisville responded with a run in the second as Fitzgerald doubled to center and later scored on an RBI bunt single by Taylor, pushing it to 3-1. Another run crossed in the fourth with a leadoff solo homer to left by Devin Hairston, which made it 4-1.

The Mavericks picked up their second run in the fifth, as sophomore Nate Mallott and junior Adam Caniglia drew back-to-back walks and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by senior Sam Palensky. An RBI groundout by sophomore Grant Suponchick then drove in Mallott, trimming the score to 4-2.

Louisville plated runs in three straight frames from the sixth to the eighth innings. In the sixth, a sacrifice fly to center by Taylor drove in Josh Stowers, and in the seventh, McKay came up with another sacrifice fly to right to score Mann. The Cardinals added one last run in the eighth when Taylor singled up the middle, stole second and came in on an RBI single to left by Fitch, bringing the final tally to 7-2.

Omaha and Louisville resume their weekend series on Saturday, Feb. 25, with first pitch set for Noon CT. The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.