University of Louisville
15-0, 3-0
PITTSBURGH
7-7, 0-3
Louisville Stays Unbeaten with 3-1 Win Against Pittsburgh
March 12, 2017 | Baseball
Bennett allows just two hits in six scoreless innings as Cardinals move to 15-0 overall
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Freshman lefthander Nick Bennett worked six dominant innings and sophomore outfielder Josh Stowers had a pivotal two-run single to lead the No. 4 Louisville baseball team to its 15th straight win with Sunday's 3-1 victory over Pittsburgh at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Cardinals improved to 15-0 overall extending the program's best start to a season since the 1957 squad set a school record with a perfect 17-0 mark. The nation's only undefeated team, Louisville also won its 31st consecutive regular season home game while moving to 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
A native of Cincinnati, Bennett allowed only two hits with one walk and four strikeouts in six shutout innings to win his second straight weekend start and move to 2-0 on the season. After surrendering a one-out bunt single in the second inning, Bennett retired the final 14 batters he faced while lowering his season ERA to just 0.56. Bennett also extended his scoreless streak to 14.0 consecutive innings with Sunday's outing.
Following Bennett's dominant start, sophomore righty Sam Bordner retired all six batters he faced, including three by strikeout, to get Louisville to the ninth inning. Sophomore Riley Thompson recorded the first two outs of the ninth before junior righty Lincoln Henzman locked down the final out of the game and his third save of the season with a strikeout.
In the three-game sweep of the Panthers (7-7, 0-3 ACC), Louisville's trio of starting pitchers – Brendan McKay, Kade McClure and Bennett – did not allow a run while combining for 25 strikeouts and just eight singles in 19.0 innings. Overall, the Cardinals pitching staff surrendered just three runs against Pittsburgh decreasing their season ERA to 1.75.
Stowers was 1-for-3 in Sunday's win and provided the biggest hit of the game delivering a two-out single to score a pair of runs in the sixth inning to push the Louisville lead to 3-0. McKay finished 2-for-3 at the plate and scored once to continue his hot start, which includes a .548 batting average, .621 on-base percentage, .905 slugging percentage and 14 RBI.
The scoring started in the fourth inning on Sunday when junior Devin Mann scored from third on a RBI groundball off the bat of junior Devin Hairston. The Cardinals pushed their lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning on Stowers' single up the middle to plate McKay and senior Colin Lyman. The Panthers plated their only run of the day in the ninth on a RBI single by Nick Banman.
No. 4 Louisville returns to action against Xavier on Wednesday at noon ET on Elementary School Day at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cardinals will close the week with a weekend series at home against Boston College, which begins Friday at 6 p.m.
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: Bennett, Nick (2-0)
L: Josh Falk (2-2)
S: Henzman, Lincoln (3)
Batting:
RBI: Nick Banman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jacob Wright 1
HBP: Kaylor Kulina 1
Batting:
2B: Ellis, Drew 1
RBI: Hairston, Devin 1 ; Stowers, Josh 2
SH: Ellis, Drew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mann, Devin 1 ; McKay, Brendan 1 ; Lyman, Colin 1
SB: Taylor, Logan 1
