Hairston, Mann Lead No. 4 Louisville Past Fort Wayne, 12-2

Wednesday, March 8

LOUISVILLE, KY

4:00 PM

University of Louisville

12-0

FORT WAYNE

3-10

Fort Wayne

Louisville

Devin Mann throws to first during Wednesday's victory over Fort Wayne.

Hairston, Mann Lead No. 4 Louisville Past Fort Wayne, 12-2

March 08, 2017 | Baseball

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Hairston drives in career-best five RBI, Mann homers for the second straight game

By: Garett Wall

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Junior Devin Hairston drove in a career-best five RBI and sophomore Devin Mann homered for the second straight game as the No. 4 Louisville baseball team stayed unbeaten with a 12-2 win over Fort Wayne on Wednesday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Hairston finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, triple and two runs scored to go along with the five runs driven in. The Lexington, Kentucky native has six multi-hit games this season and is hitting .367 overall with 15 RBI. Mann was 2-for-4 with a triple to go with his second home run, a solo shot to left center to help trigger Louisville's five-run fourth inning.

The Cardinals, who have won 28 straight regular season home games, improved to 12-0 overall extending their longest unbeaten streak to begin a season since winning the first 13 games in 2010. Louisville has also won 17 consecutive midweek games dating back to the 2015 season.

Junior Drew Ellis chipped in with two hits, including his team-leading fifth double, while also scoring twice and driving in a run. Junior Brendan McKay reached base three times with a single, walk and HBP, while also driving one run home and scoring two times.

On the mound, sophomore Sam Bordner registered his first win of the season and moved to 2-0 in his career after working 1.2 innings of shutout relief with one strikeout. Bordner was the first of four Louisville relievers to make scoreless appearances in Wednesday's win. Through 12 games this season, the Cardinals bullpen has a 1.26 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 57.0 innings pitched.

Fort Wayne (3-10) struck first on Wednesday plating a run in the third inning on a RBI groundout off the bat of Travis Upp to score Jake Weber. The Mastodons pushed the lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth on a two-out RBI single to right by Weber to plate Shannon Baker.

The Cardinals answered in the bottom of the fourth inning scoring five runs on six hits while sending nine batters to the plate. Mann started the inning by sending a 3-2 pitch from lefty Damian Helm over the wall in left center for his second career home run. Later in the inning, Ellis scored the game-tying run on a RBI double to right field by Hairston, who then scored the go-ahead run moments later on a RBI single from senior Ryan Summers. Senior Logan Taylor capped the inning with a two-out, two-run single up the middle to plate sophomore Josh Stowers and Summers.

Louisville added to the lead with a pair of runs in the fifth inning starting with a RBI single from McKay to score Mann. Hairston added a two-out RBI single to left later in the frame to send McKay home for the 7-2 advantage. The Cardinals scored their four more runs in the seventh inning on a three-run triple by Hairston and a RBI double from freshman Jake Snider. The final run of the game came in the eighth inning on a RBI single to left by Ellis.

No. 4 Louisville begins its 2017 ACC schedule with a weekend set at home against Pittsburgh with the series-opener set for Friday at 6 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium.

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