University of Louisville
29-9, 18-2
WAKE FOREST
22-18, 9-11
Louisville Rolls Past Wake Forest, 10-1
April 18, 2015 | Baseball
By Taylor Sherrill
GoCards.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 3 Louisville baseball team used a 12-hit attack and Brendan McKay tossed six solid innings to lift the Cardinals to their seventh straight conference series win with a 10-1 victory in the first game of the doubleheader against Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Facing the ACC's top hitting team, left hander Brendan McKay (Darlington, Pa.) pitched six solid innings and allowed just two hits. The freshman gave up one run and struck out four to improve his record to 6-1. Freshman right hander Lincoln Henzman (Lexington, Ky.) tossed three scoreless innings to notch his first save of the season, becoming the sixth Cardinal to record a save this season. Connor Johnstone was charged with the loss, giving up five runs in 2 2/3 innings, to fall to 2-3 on the season.
Louisville got on the board first with a run in the first inning. Senior shortstop Sutton Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.) singled and advanced to second on an error to start things off for the Cardinals. After a balk advanced Whiting to third, Corey Ray (Chicago, Ill.) gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead with a RBI single to left to score Whiting.
The Demon Deacons responded with a run in the second inning. Will Craig led off the inning with a double down the left field line. After an error and a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third, a RBI groundout by Justin Yurchak scored Craig to tie the game at one.
Louisville threatened to take the lead in the second inning loading the bases with two outs. The crowd rose to its feet as Ray launched a deep fly ball to center field but it was caught at the wall to end the inning.
The Cardinals plated four runs in the third inning to take a 5-1 cushion and cruised from there. McKay and Mike White (East Orange, N.J.) kicked off the inning with singles before Danny Rosenbaum (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) plated McKay with a single of his own to give the Cards the lead they would not relinquish. After a walk to freshman Colby Fitch (Rocheport, Mo.), freshman Devin Hairston (Lexington, Ky.) brought in White with a sacrifice fly to right field. A walk to Whiting to load the bases ended the day for Johnstone and Nick Solak (Woodbridge, Ill.) greeted the new pitcher, Paul Kirkpatrick, with a two-run single before Whiting was thrown out trying to advance to third.
In the fourth inning, Ray reached on a fielding error by Kirkpatrick and stole second and third base, his second and third of the day, before coming around to score on a throwing error to extend the Cards' lead to 6-1.
McKay cruised through the first four innings with minimal damage before running into a jam in the fifth inning. After two quick outs, the Demon Deacons loaded the bases with an error and back to back walks. McKay battled back from a 3-0 count to a full count and forced Nate Mondou to fly out to a sliding left fielder Solak to end the threat and maintain the five run advantage.
Louisville scored three more runs to the sixth inning to push its lead to eight. Solak led off the inning with his third hit of the game. After McKay was hit by a pitch, the two successfully converted a double steal. After a pitching change and a Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky.) walk to load the bases, Solak scored on a wild pitch. White was intentionally walked to load the bases again with one out before Rosenbaum drew a walk to score McKay. Fitch followed with an infield single to give the Cards a 9-1 lead.
Blake Tiberi (Taylor Mill, Ky.) added to the scoring with a pinch-hit RBI single to score Ryan Summers (Westfield, Mass.), who doubled.
Henzman tossed the final three innings of relief and gave up just one hit while striking out three for his first save.
After stealing seven bases in the first game of the series, the Cardinals successfully converted seven more in the game with Ray stealing three and Solak and McKay swiping two apiece. Solak extended his hitting streak to 12 games with his 3-for-4 performance at the plate while Rosenbaum added a 2-for-3 effort and two RBIs.
The Cardinals conclude the series with the Demon Deacons on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 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.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McKay, Brendan (6-1)
L: Connor Johnstone (2-3)
S: Henzman, Lincoln (1)
Batting:
2B: Will Craig 1
RBI: Justin Yurchak 1
SH: Keegan Maronpot 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Will Craig 1
SB: Drew Freedman 1
CS: Joey Rodriguez 1
Batting:
2B: Summers, Ryan 1 ; Rosenbaum, Danny 1
RBI: Solak, Nick 2 ; Ray, Corey 1 ; Tiberi, Blake 1 ; Rosenbaum, Danny 2 ; Fitch, Colby 1 ; Hairston, Devin 1
SF: Hairston, Devin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Whiting, Sutton 1 ; Solak, Nick 1 ; Ray, Corey 1 ; Summers, Ryan 1 ; McKay, Brendan 2 ; Lucas, Zach 1 ; White, Mike 1 ; Rosenbaum, Danny 1 ; Fitch, Colby 1
SB: Solak, Nick 2 ; Ray, Corey 3 ; McKay, Brendan 2
HBP: McKay, Brendan 1
