University of Louisville
8-0
MOREHEAD STATE
5-4
Long Ball Lifts No. 6 Louisville Past Morehead State, 20-2
March 01, 2017 | Baseball
Cardinals hit season-high four home runs as Lyman, Fitch, Ellis and Bollmer connect for round-trippers
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Powered by a season-high four home runs, the No. 6 Louisville baseball team remained unbeaten with Wednesday afternoon's 20-2 victory over visiting Morehead State at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Cardinals improved to 8-0 overall extending their longest unbeaten streak to open a season since winning each of the first 13 games in 2010. The 20 runs were the most for Louisville since a 21-4 win over SIU Edwardsville on Feb. 19, 2016. Wednesday's win was the Cardinals' 17th straight victory against Morehead State (5-4) while also marking the 24th consecutive regular season win at home and the 16th straight win in midweek games.
Four different Louisville players homered on Wednesday, highlighted by the first career home runs for seniors Colin Lyman and Michael Bollmer. Lyman was 3-for-5 overall, including a three-run homer to cap a five-run fifth inning, while junior Colby Fitch had a two-run homer in the sixth inning and was 3-for-4 in the game with a career-high four RBI. Junior Drew Ellis added his first career grand slam in a seven-run seventh inning, while Bollmer came off the bench for a pinch-hit, three-run home run in the eighth inning.
Junior Brendan McKay finished with his seventh multi-hit game this season with Wednesday's 3-for-3 performance with two RBI, one run scored and one walk. Through eight games, McKay has a .667 batting average (16-for-24) with three home runs, 13 RBI, seven walks, .714 on-base percentage and 1.083 slugging percentage. Senior Logan Taylor added two hits for his fifth multi-hit game of the season while also walking twice, driving in a run and scoring a career-high four runs. Taylor is second on the team in hitting with a .484 batting average.
On the mound, senior righthander Jake Sparger worked 1.2 innings of shutout relief for the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. Junior lefty Rabon Martin, freshman lefthander Adam Elliott and junior righty Chandler Dale contributed one scoreless inning of relief each, while sophomore righthander Bryan Hoeing allowed two runs on five hits in 4.1 innings for a no-decision in the starting role.
The Cardinals faced their first deficit of the 2017 season Wednesday after Morehead State gained a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on a RBI single by Niko Hulsizer to score Braxton Morris. Louisville answered in the bottom of the inning when McKay delivered a two-out, two-run single to right field to score Taylor and Fitch for the 2-1 lead.
After the Eagles evened the score at 2-2 in the top of the fifth on a RBI groundout off the bat of Ryan Kent, the Cardinals regained command for good with a five-run frame in the bottom of the inning. Fitch pushed Louisville back ahead with a RBI double to right center to plate Taylor before scoring later in the inning on a RBI sacrifice fly from Ellis. Lyman followed Ellis by sending a 3-2 offering from David Calderon over the right field wall for a three-run homer.
The advantage for the home side moved to 9-2 in the sixth inning when Fitch followed an infield single from Taylor by crushing a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall for his second home run of the season. An inning later, the Cardinals doubled their lead by scoring seven runs on just three hits in the seventh. Following back-to-back bases loaded walks by Taylor and Fitch and a RBI single by sophomore Devin Mann, Ellis connected for the grand slam sending a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left center. Louisville closed the scoring with four runs in the eighth inning on a RBI single by freshman Logan Wyatt and a three-run homer to right field by Bollmer.
Up next, No. 6 will conclude its eight-game homestand at Jim Patterson Stadium with a weekend series against Eastern Michigan, which begins Friday at 3 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: Sparger, Jake (2-0)
L: STAMBAUGH, Dalton (0-1)
Batting:
2B: MORRIS, Braxton 1
RBI: KENT, Ryan 1 ; HULSIZER, Niko 1
Base Running:
RUNS: TETER, Chase 1 ; MORRIS, Braxton 1
CS: NIEMANN, Tyler 1
HBP: SHOUPE, Brody 1 ; LEONARD, Reid 1 ; SCHNEIDER, Will 1 ; NIEMANN, Tyler 1
Batting:
2B: Fitch, Colby 1 ; Lyman, Colin 1
3B: Lavey, Justin 1
HR: Bollmer, Michael 1 ; Fitch, Colby 1 ; Ellis, Drew 1 ; Lyman, Colin 1
RBI: Taylor, Logan 1 ; Bollmer, Michael 3 ; Fitch, Colby 4 ; Mann, Devin 1 ; McKay, Brendan 2 ; Ellis, Drew 5 ; Lyman, Colin 3 ; Wyatt, Logan 1
SF: Ellis, Drew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Taylor, Logan 4 ; Bollmer, Michael 1 ; Fitch, Colby 4 ; Mann, Devin 2 ; McKay, Brendan 1 ; Ellis, Drew 1 ; Lyman, Colin 2 ; Hairston, Devin 1 ; Lavey, Justin 1 ; Wyatt, Logan 1 ; Stowers, Josh 2
SB: Taylor, Logan 1
HBP: Hairston, Devin 1 ; Stowers, Josh 1
