University of Louisville
6-0
OMAHA
1-6
McClure Dominant in 10-0 Win Against Omaha
February 25, 2017 | Baseball
Junior righty allows just one hit with nine strikeouts in six shutout innings for the victory
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Junior righthander Kade McClure had nine strikeouts and surrendered just one hit in six dominant innings to lead the No. 6 Louisville baseball team to a 10-0 victory over the University of Nebraska Omaha on Saturday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.
McClure struck out eight of the first 12 batters he faced before allowing a two-out single in the fifth inning for the only hit of the game for the visiting Mavericks. Sophomore righty Sam Bordner retired all six batters he faced and freshman righthander Shay Smiddy recorded the final three outs of the game to close out the first one-hit performance for the Cardinals since limiting Florida State to a single hit in a 7-0 win on May 9, 2015.
With the victory, Louisville improved to 6-0 overall to extend its longest unbeaten streak to open a season since winning each of the first 13 games in 2010. McClure moved to 1-0 on the season and 14-1 in his collegiate career with Saturday's win.
Offensively, the Cardinals reached double-figures in scoring for the fourth time in six games this season seven different players drove in a run. Junior Brendan McKay was 2-for-2 with a double and one RBI as the Cardinals out-hit the Mavericks (1-6) 10-1 overall. McKay has reached base safely in all six games thus far while hitting .588 with three home runs, 11 RBI and six walks.
Junior Drew Ellis finished 2-for-3 with one RBI and scored once, while junior Colby Fitch had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run. Along with McKay, Ellis and Fitch, senior Logan Taylor and junior Devin Mann have also reached base in all six games this season after earning walks on Saturday.
The Cardinals opened the scoring Saturday with a pair of runs in the second inning on a RBI groundball off the bat of Hairston to score McKay and a RBI sacrifice fly to center by Fitzgerald to plate Ellis. Louisville doubled the lead an inning later after Fitch moved to third on a single by McKay and scored on an error by the Mavericks for the first run of the frame and Mann added the second on a RBI sacrifice fly to right by Ellis.
The scoring continued for the Cardinals in the fourth inning as they converted four hits and one Omaha error into four runs. Fitch started the scoring with a RBI single to send Fitzgerald home before a throwing error later in the inning allowed two more runs to score. McKay added a RBI sacrifice fly to right field to score Fitch for the final run of the fourth.
Louisville added its ninth run of the day in the sixth inning after Mann scored on a RBI grounder off the bat of senior Colin Lyman. An inning later, freshman Jake Snider tripled before scoring on a RBI sacrifice fly to left by freshman Logan Wyatt for the final run of the day.
The Cardinals and Mavericks will conclude their weekend series Sunday at noon ET and admission is free.
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: McClure, Kade (1-0)
L: Corey Binger (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Stowers, Josh 1 ; McKay, Brendan 1
3B: Snider, Jake 1
RBI: Fitch, Colby 1 ; McKay, Brendan 1 ; Ellis, Drew 1 ; Lyman, Colin 1 ; Hairston, Devin 1 ; Fitzgerald, Tyler 1 ; Wyatt, Logan 1
SF: McKay, Brendan 1 ; Ellis, Drew 1 ; Fitzgerald, Tyler 1 ; Wyatt, Logan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Taylor, Logan 1 ; Fitch, Colby 2 ; Mann, Devin 2 ; McKay, Brendan 1 ; Ellis, Drew 1 ; Fitzgerald, Tyler 1 ; Snider, Jake 1 ; Summers, Ryan 1
SB: Summers, Ryan 1
