Cardinals Win Pitchers' Duel in Opener with Irish

Friday, March 20

South Bend, Ind.

6:05 PM

University of Louisville

16-6, 6-1

Notre Dame

15-5, 3-4

Louisville

Notre Dame

March 20, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

March 20, 2015

Kyle Funkhouser struck out eight in seven shutout innings for his 20th career collegiate win.

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Kyle Funkhouser and Drew Harrington combined for the third shutout of the season for No. 8 Louisville while Mike White provided the key hit in Friday night's 2-0 win over No. 22 Notre Dame in the series-opener at Frank Eck Stadium.

Funkhouser, a junior righty from Oak Forest, Ill., had eight strikeouts and scattered four hits in seven scoreless innings for the win to improve to 2-2 on the season for the Cardinals (16-6, 6-1 ACC), winners of five straight games and 11 of their last 13. Harrington, a sophomore lefty from Elizabethtown, Ky., followed by striking out three in two perfect innings of relief for his third save of the season.

White, a senior outfielder from East Orange, N.J., delivered a two-run single in the second inning to highlight a 2-for-3 performance at the plate and drive in the only runs of the game. Senior infielder Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky.) chipped in with two hits and a stolen base.

"Both starters were very good tonight. This was the best outing of the year for Kyle and Drew bounced right back after a tough inning last week to continue his great season," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "We played well defensively and Mike White continues to have good at-bats and drove in the only runs of the night."

The Cardinals struck for the only runs of the game when White connected on a 2-0 offering from Notre Dame (15-5, 3-4 ACC) starter Scott Kerrigan for the two-run single up the middle to plate sophomore catcher Will Smith (Louisville, Ky.) and freshman designated hitter Blake Tiberi (Taylor Mill, Ky.) in the second. The inning started with Smith being hit by a pitch, while Tiberi followed with a single through the left side. A slow-rolling groundout to the right side by freshman Devin Hairston (Lexington, Ky.) moved the runners into scoring position before White pushed Louisville in front for good.

Kerrigan was charged with the loss and dropped to 1-3 on the season despite a terrific outing in which he allowed just the two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in a complete game effort. Third baseman Kyle Fiala was 2-for-4 for the Fighting Irish and was the only player for his club to finish with multiple hits.

The Cardinals and Fighting Irish will continue their series on Saturday at 2:05 p.m., ET and 93.9 The Ville will have all of the play-by-play coverage. The series finale is set for Sunday at 1:05 p.m., ET.

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

Louisville Postgame Notes
? The Cardinals improved to 17-8 all-time against Notre Dame and 6-1 in South Bend.

? Louisville has won 113 straight games when entering the ninth inning with a lead dating back to May 2012.

? The Cardinals earned their third shutout of the season on Friday.

? Friday also marked the first time this season Notre Dame has been shutout.

? The five-game winning streak is a season-long for the Cardinals.

? Kyle Funkhouser moved into sole possession of sixth place in career wins at Louisville with his 20th overall breaking a tie with Derek Self (19 wins, 2009-12).

? Funkhouser also moved into eighth place in career strikeouts at Louisville with 219 passing Rod Biehl (218, 1990-91) and B.J. Rosenberg (212, 2004-08).

? Zach Lucas has hit safely in nine straight games.

? Mike White has hit safely in five straight games and has connected for an RBI in three of those.

? In nine outings this season, Drew Harrington has 30 strikeouts in 20.2 innings and has allowed only one run (0.44 ERA) on seven hits.

? Sutton Whiting leads the Cardinals in hitting at .413 overall and on-base percentage at .535 - highlighted by 18 walks.