Funkhouser Dominant in Louisville's 1-0 Win at Duke

Friday, April 10

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

26-7, 15-1

Duke

21-14, 4-12

Louisville

Duke

April 10, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

April 10, 2015

Kyle Funkhouser moved to 5-2 on the season and 23-6 in his collegiate career with Friday's win.

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. - Kyle Funkhouser struck out eight in seven powerful innings while Blake Tiberi delivered a seventh inning RBI single to lift No. 5 Louisville to a 1-0 series-opening road victory against Duke on Friday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Clinching their second straight shutout and the sixth this season, the Cardinals (26-7, 15-1 ACC) won their eighth consecutive game while also extending their ACC winning streak to 14 games. The Louisville pitching staff has delivered 21 straight shutout innings and the Cardinals have played 83 consecutive innings against foes ACC without trailing.

"That was one of Kyle's better performances. He's been locked in since we got that first ACC weekend under our belt and he's trusting his fastball as much now as he ever has," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "Our defense was very good again tonight and we got the big, timely hit from Blake in the seventh inning. Coach (Roger) Williams called a great game, Will Smith caught a great game and our bullpen, which has been strong all year, did the job again tonight."

A junior righty from Oak Forest, Ill., Funkhouser allowed only four hits and issued just one walk in winning his fourth straight start to improve to 5-2 on the season and 23-6 in his collegiate career. The performance marked the fourth straight outing Funkhouser has allowed no more than one run, while in his last five starts, he has a 4-0 record with a 1.01 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched.

"I try to get better with each outing and tonight was another good performance for our entire pitching staff," said Funkhouser. "I was mad at myself for the one walk because I got the first out and then had a mental lapse. Fortunately, nothing came from it and we did enough to win tonight."

Following Funkhouser, freshman righthander Lincoln Henzman (Lexington, Ky.) had one strikeout in a perfect eighth inning of work before sophomore righty Zack Burdi (Downers Grove, Ill.) closed the game in the ninth for his fourth save of the season. With Friday's result, Louisville has won 122 straight games when entering the 9th inning with a lead, including a 24-0 record in 2015.

On a night when the pitchers were the story, it was Tiberi (Taylor Mill, Ky.) who connected for the biggest hit of the game when he sent a 3-1 offering from Duke (21-14, 4-12 ACC) reliever Sarkis Ohanian into right field to score Brendan McKay (Darlington, Pa.) from third. The inning started with a leadoff walk to McKay, who moved to second on a throwing error by Sarkis on a pickoff attempt at first. After advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt by Will Smith (Louisville, Ky.), McKay scored on Tiberi's pinch hit single past a drawn-in infield.

Ohanian suffered his first loss of the season and dropped to 3-1 overall after allowing one run on one hit in 1.1 innings of relief. The loss spoiled a solid start for lefty Dillon Haviland, who struck out two, walked three and allowed just two hits in 5.2 scoreless innings.

The Cardinals and Blue Devils will continue their weekend series on Saturday at 1 p.m., ET and the game will be aired on 93.9 The Ville in Louisville.

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