Napleton Homers Three Times, Cards Win ACC Opener

Friday, March 15

Louisville, Ky.

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

13-5, 1-0

Virginia Tech

12-4, 3-1

Virginia Tech

Louisville

Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

March 15, 2024 | Baseball

Box Score PDF Box Score Dan McDonnell Postgame Video Luke Napleton Postgame Video

Louisville downed Virginia Tech 9-6 on Friday night.

By: Stephen Williams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Luke Napleton hit three home runs and the University of Louisville baseball team turned in a 9-6 victory over Virginia Tech on Friday night at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Louisville (13-5, 1-0 ACC) improved to 10-0 all-time in ACC openers and has won 13 of its last 14 games.

Napleton got the Cardinals started off on the right foot on Friday, hitting an opposite field home run to open the scoring in the bottom of the second. Zion Rose added a run-scoring single with two outs later in the inning and Louisville tacked on a third thanks to an error.

Virginia Tech (12-4, 3-1) grabbed its first run of the night on a solo home run in the fourth, but Napleton got the run back one inning later with his second long ball of the night.

Louisville pushed two more runs across in the sixth to extend its lead to five. Gavin Kilen brought home the first run with a groundball and Napleton added to his night with a sacrifice fly that gave the Cards a 6-1 lead.

The Hokies cut into the lead with two runs in the seventh and then loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth. However, Riley Phillips got a shallow flyout and back-to-back strikeouts to leave the tying runs on base.

Louisville found some extra insurance in its half of the eighth with Brandon Anderson doubling home JT Benson before Napleton launched his third home run of the night.

Napleton finished the evening 3-for-3 with the trio of homers and five driven in. He was the first Cardinal to hit three home runs in a game since Alex Binelas against Clemson in the ACC Tournament on May 25, 2021.

Virginia Tech made things interesting in the ninth with a three-run home run that cut Louisville's lead in half, but Kayden Campbell came on and retired the first batter he faced for his first save of the season.

Sebastian Gongora (3-0) was excellent on the mound in his first ACC start, limiting the Hokies to just two earned runs in 6.1 innings with eight strikeouts.

The weekend series continues on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

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