Louisville had its two-game midweek series wrap up today against Chicago State, and the Cardinals were able to sweep the Cougars in convincing fashion.
Below are details from both games that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Game 1: Louisville offense goes for 10+ runs again
The Cardinals rushed to an early 10-0 lead after four innings, reaching double digit runs for the fourth time in the last six games as they cruised to a 13-2 win over the Cougars.
Four runs in the second inning, as well as six in the fourth, was all it took for Louisville to jump out to a 10-0 lead early. Back-to-back home runs by Henry Davis and Justin Lavey in the second gave the Cardinals an early 4-0 lead.
The six runs in the fourth would come on two-RBI singles by Tim Borden II and Luke Brown, with additional RBIs coming on flyouts by Danny Oriente and Zach Britton.
Louisville would also see their lead expand to 13-0 heading into the eighth, adding one run in the sixth and two in the seventh.
While Louisville’s offense was once again clicking on all cylinders, the midweek pitchers were also dialed in. Starter Michael Prosecky put on the best outing of his season, throwing six shutout innings and allowing just two hits and walks each. Jared Poland and Carter Lohman added a shutout seventh and ninth inning out of the bullpen, respectively.
Outfielders Levi Usher and Luke Brown led the offense with 2-for-4 outings, with Henry Davis (1-for-2, three RBI) and Justin Lavey (2-for-3, RBI) adding home runs for Louisville’s potent offense. Tim Borden II went perfect, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs as the starting second baseman.
Chicago State had RBIs from Anthony Urso and Gabriel Coburn in the eighth, with Coburn finishing 2-for-4 for the game.
Game 2: 13 is the magic number once again for Louisville
After putting up 13 runs in game one of the series, Louisville returned on Wednesday to do the same. The Cards jumped to an early 7-0 lead after four innings, and went on to take a 13-3 win over Chicago State for their 13th win of the season.
Zach Britton drove in three of the seven RBIs over the opening four innings. The junior brought in the opening run on a fielder’s choice in the first, and also had RBI singles in the second and fourth innings.
The second inning also saw Luke Brown drive an RBI single of his own, with the returning Lucas Dunn clearing the bases on a three-RBI triple. Dunn made his first start in 2020 on Wednesday, after dealing with a hamate injury for the first few weeks of the season.
Chicago State chipped into Louisville’s lead with two runs in the fifth inning, coming on Cole Hansel’s RBI single and a flyout from Anthony Urso.
But Dalton Rushing would bring two back for Louisville in the bottom of the frame, blasting a two-run homer out of right field. Rushing’s homer went over 400 feet and gave the Cardinals a 9-2 lead.
Richard Paulino’s groundout in the seventh would cut the lead to 9-3, but Louisville would add four more runs coming out of the stretch. Justin Lavey drove in a two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning, with Dalton Rushing doing the same in the eighth.
Rushing had a sensational outing, going 3-for-4 with four RBIs, a double, and a home run. Luke Brown’s 3-for-5 day included two doubles and an RBI, with another stolen base to his stat line. Zach Britton also went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, hitting his 11th double of the season.
In his return to the starting lineup, Lucas Dunn went 1-for-4 with three RBIs, the lone hit going for a triple that brought in the aforementioned RBIs.
Of Chicago State’s eight hits, half of them were accounted for by Rocky Pascente and Christian Kuzemka, both going 2-for-4.
Louisville (13-4), now winners of 12 of the last 13 games, will look to continue their red-hot momentum against Notre Dame on Friday. The Cardinals and the Fighting Irish are set to start at 6:00 P.M. ET.
