McKay, Fitch Lead No. 1 Louisville to 17th Straight Victory

Friday, March 17

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

17-0, 4-0

BOSTON COLLEGE

6-9, 1-3

Boston College

Louisville

Devin Mann makes a tag at second during Friday night's win over Boston College.

Photo by: Mike DeZarn

McKay, Fitch Lead No. 1 Louisville to 17th Straight Victory

March 17, 2017 | Baseball

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McKay strikes out 12, Fitch drives in three runs as No. 1 Cardinals defeat Boston College 6-0

By: Garett Wall

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Brendan McKay had 12 strikeouts in seven dominant innings and Colby Fitch drove in three runs as the No. 1 Louisville baseball team equaled the school record for consecutive wins to open a season with Friday night's 6-0 victory over Boston College at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The Cardinals improved to 17-0 on the season matching the program's best start since the 1957 squad, under the direction of head coach Dr. John Heldman Jr., set the school record with a perfect 17-0 mark. The nation's only unbeaten team, Louisville also won its 33rd consecutive regular season home game while moving to 4-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

A week after registering a career-high 15 strikeouts, McKay was nearly as impressive on Friday scattering five singles and issuing one walk in seven shutout innings to move to 4-0 on the season. In his four starts on the mound this season, McKay has allowed just one earned run in 25.0 innings (0.36 ERA) with 41 strikeouts and just six walks. Having surrendered no extra-base hits and only 13 singles this season, McKay moved into sole possession of third place in career wins at Louisville improving to 25-7 overall with a 1.87 ERA and 286 strikeouts in 231.1 innings.

"That was a typical Brendan McKay performance where he pitched off the fastball and really had command of all of his pitches," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "He thrives in the Friday night role and when the lights are the brightest and tonight was another dominant outing for him."

McKay was followed Friday by sophomore righthander Sam Bordner, who retired all six batters he faced, including two by strikeout, to complete the sixth shutout of the season for the Cardinals. McKay and Bordner combined to lower Louisville's team ERA to just 1.66 and the pitching staff has 193 strikeouts in 157.0 innings of work.

Fitch paced the way for the Cardinals at the plate on Friday finishing 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBI. Senior Logan Taylor added a single, was hit twice, drove in a run and scored two runs, while sophomore Josh Stowers added a double, walked once and scored the first run of the night. Along with his work on the mound, McKay also added a hit and walked twice raising his on-base percentage to .597 and moving his batting average to .510.

The Cardinals broke into the scoring column with a pair of runs in the fifth inning against BC righthanded starter Jacob Stevens, who lost for the first time this season and moved to 2-1 overall. After starting the inning with a double to left field, Stowers scored from second on a RBI single up the middle from Taylor. Eagles shortstop Johnny Adams made a diving stop behind second base to keep the ball in the infield, but Stowers never slowed around third and scored just ahead of the tag by catcher Aaron Soucy. Moments later, Fitch connected for a RBI double to center field to plate Taylor for the 2-0 lead.

Louisville added to the lead with three runs on two hits in the seventh inning. Fitch kicked off the scoring with a two-run double down the right field line to score sophomore Devin Mann and freshman Tyler Fitzgerald. Junior Devin Hairston added a RBI groundout to send Taylor home for the third run of the frame and a 5-0 advantage. The Cardinals closed the scoring with an unearned run in the eighth inning.

Louisville and Boston College will continue its series Saturday at 1 p.m., ET, while the weekend finale is slated for 1 p.m., on Sunday. Admission is free throughout the weekend.

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