Hairston Lifts Louisville Past Xavier in Nightcap

Saturday, February 28

JIM PATTERSON STADIUM

3:00 PM

University of Louisville

6-4

XAVIER

4-5

Xavier

Louisville

February 28, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 28, 2015

Freshman Devin Hairston had the game-winning three-run double in Saturday's second game.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Freshman infielder Devin Hairston delivered a three-run double in the eighth inning to lead the 12th-ranked Louisville baseball team to a 6-3 victory over Xavier in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at Jim Patterson Stadium.

After splitting the first two games, the Cardinals (6-4) and Musketeers (4-5) will play the decisive third game in the series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m., ET. The series finale will be aired live on 93.9 The Ville while streaming video will be available to subscribers of CardsTV at GoCards.com.

With the bases loaded on a trio of walks by Xavier reliever Greg Jacknewitz and Louisville facing a 3-2 deficit in the eighth inning of Saturday's nightcap, Hairston (Lexington, Ky.) sent a 1-0 offering from Daniel Przeniczny down the left field line to score freshman Brendan McKay (Darlington, Pa.), senior Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky.) and sophomore Logan Taylor (Lexington, Ky.) for the Cardinals' first lead of the day. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Hairston scored the final run of the game on a RBI infield single by senior Sutton Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.).

Along with scoring in the eighth, Lucas added his first home run of the season and the seventh of his career with a solo shot in the second inning. Whiting added a stolen base to go with his RBI and run scored, while McKay drove in a run before closing the game on the mound with strikeouts to earn his second save of the season.

Sophomore lefthander Robert Strader (Louisville, Ky.) was credited with the win for the Cardinals to move to 1-0 on the season after striking out four without allowing a hit in 2.1 innings of shutout relief. He followed junior righty starter Anthony Kidston (Defiance, Ohio), who finished with a career-best 10 strikeouts while allowing two earned runs on three hits in 5.2 innings.

The Musketeers, who won Saturday's opener 2-1, plated a first inning run in game two on a RBI double off the bat of designated hitter Derek Hasenbeck. An inning later, Lucas belted a 1-2 offering from Xavier starter Adam Hall over the left field fence to even the score at 1-1.

The teams traded runs in the third inning as Xavier second baseman David Morton scored from third on a Louisville fielding error and Whiting scored third on a RBI double by McKay for the Cardinals. The Musketeers moved ahead for the third time in the game with a run in the sixth inning on after shortstop Andre Jernigan doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch by Kidston.

The score remained that way until the Cardinals' four-run eighth inning. Jacknewitz was charged with the loss for the Musketeers and dropped to 1-1 on the season after allowing three runs on five walks and one hit in four innings of relief.

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