Louisville Wins Home-Opener 10-1 Over Butler

Tuesday, February 24

JIM PATTERSON STADIUM

3:00 PM

University of Louisville

4-3

BUTLER

0-7

Butler

Louisville

February 24, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 24, 2015

Freshman Kade McClure finished with four strikeouts and allowed just three hits in the victory.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Making his first collegiate start, freshman righthander Kade McClure pitched five shutout innings while the trio of Corey Ray, Nick Solak and Sutton Whiting led the offense as the No. 12 Louisville baseball team rolled to a 10-1 win over Butler in Tuesday afternoon's home-opener at Jim Patterson Stadium.

McClure (Mentor, Ohio) finished with four strikeouts and allowed just three hits in only his second appearance on the mound this season. At the plate, Ray (Chicago, Ill.) was 2-for-3 with a double, a stolen base and three RBI, while Solak (Woodridge, Ill.) added a pair of singles, three RBI, one stolen base and scored once.

Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.) chipped in going 3-for-3 with two stolen bases, one RBI and one run scored as the Cardinals (4-3) reached double figures in the scoring column for the second straight outing. Louisville finished the game with a season-high six stolen bases as outfielder Ryan Summers (Westfield, Mass.) and Logan Taylor (Lexington, Ky.) added to the total.

In their first game at Patterson Stadium since celebrating the 2014 NCAA Super Regional triumph, the Cardinals gained command early on Tuesday plating a run in the first inning against Butler (0-7) lefty starter Peter Nyznyk after Ray delivered a one-out RBI double to left center to score Whiting. Two innings later, Louisville pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third on a pair of RBI singles by Whiting and Ray to score Summers and Solak respectively.

The Cardinals kept the pedal down in the fourth inning scoring three runs on three hits against Butler reliever Tyler Rathjen. Freshman Brendan McKay (Darlington, Pa.), making his first collegiate start as the designated hitter, scored from third on a balk after leading off the inning with a single and advancing on a single by sophomore catcher Will Smith (Louisville, Ky.) and a sacrifice bunt by junior first baseman Danny Rosenbaum (Lafayette Hill, Pa.). Solak added a RBI single to score Smith, while Ray was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to plate Taylor for the 6-0 lead.

Louisville added its final four runs of the afternoon in the seventh inning on a bases loaded RBI walk for senior Mike White (Salisbury, N.J.), a bases loaded HBP for sophomore Colin Lyman (Algonquin, Ill.) and a two-run single to center by Solak. The only run of the game for the Bulldogs came in the ninth inning on a RBI groundball off the bat of outfielder Drew Small.

Along with McClure's effort on the mound, freshman righty Sean Leland (Orland Park, Ill.) added three innings of shutout relief with three strikeouts for the Cardinals in his second career appearance. Nyznyk took the loss for Butler allowing three runs on four hits with one strikeout and two walks in 2.2 innings to fall to 0-1 on the season.

Up next, the Cardinals continue their homestand with a visit from Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday at 3 p.m., ET. The game will be aired live on 1450 WXVW while streaming video will be available to subscribers of CardsTV at GoCards.com.

Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.