Press Release
Garett Wall UofL Baseball SID
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 4 Louisville baseball team erupted for eight runs in a decisive sixth inning while sophomore Kade McClure became the nation’s second 11-game winner with Tuesday night’s 9-2 victory against No. 27 Indiana at Jim Patterson Stadium.
With their 19th straight home win, the Cardinals (43-10) finished 14-0 in midweek games this season and improved to 33-1 overall at Patterson Stadium for their best home record since an unbeaten slate in 1957. Louisville also extended its winning streak to six consecutive games and has won 13 of its last 14 games overall.
The Cardinals plated eight runs on seven hits and sent 12 batters to the plate against three different Indiana pitchers during the pivotal sixth inning. Junior Nick Solak had two hits, scored two runs and drove in a run during the sixth inning while also scoring a third run later in the game as Louisville out-hit the Hoosiers (31-19) 14-5 in the game.
McClure continued his breakout season winning for the 11th time in 12 starts and improved to 11-0 overall after striking out a career-best 10 and surrendering just two runs on five hits in six innings. The strikeout total was two better than his previous career high of eight set in last week’s road win at Vanderbilt.
Backing up Solak’s day at the plate on Tuesday was sophomore Brendan McKay, who was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI while junior Corey Ray finished 3-for-4 with one RBI and scored once. Sophomore Devin Hairston added two hits and two RBI, junior Will Smith chipped in with two hits and one RBI and sophomore Blake Tiberi finished with two hits and scored once.
The Hoosiers struck first on Tuesday plating their only two runs of the night in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run double by Craig Dedelow. Following back-to-back two-out singles from Colby Stratten and Alex Krupa, Dedelow sent a 2-0 offering from McClure down the right field line for the two-run advantage.
That cushion was short-lived as Louisville answered an inning later by tallying at least eight runs in an inning for the third time this season. Solak led off the sixth with an infield single against Luke Stephenson and advanced to second on a throwing error by the Hoosiers before scoring on a RBI single from Hairston. Following a single by Tiberi, Rosenbaum doubled off the wall in left center to plate Hairston and Tiberi for the 3-2 lead.
After junior Colin Lyman and redshirt freshman Drew Ellis were hit by pitches from B.J. Sabol to load the bases, Ray followed with a RBI single to right to score Rosenbaum. Smith sent Lyman home with a RBI sacrifice fly to right before Solak connected for his second hit of the inning on a RBI single to plate junior pinch runner Logan Taylor. McKay capped the scoring in the inning with a two-run double down the right field line off Paul Milto scoring Ray and Solak.
The Cardinals added their final run of the night in the eighth inning on a RBI single by Hairston scoring Solak. Stephenson was charged with the loss and dropped to 1-2 on the season after allowing four runs, all earned, on five hits in 1.2 innings of relief.
No. 4 Louisville will close the regular season with a weekend series at Wake Forest starting Thursday at 6 p.m., ET. The Cardinals and Demon Deacons are also slated for Friday at 6 p.m., and Saturday at 1 p.m.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) athttp://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
