Cardinals Bats Stay Hot, Down Northwestern in Series Opener

Friday, March 8

Louisville, Ky.

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

9-4

Northwestern

5-6

Northwestern

Louisville

Gavin Kilen and Alex Alicea at second base.

Photo by: Caleb Jones | Louisville Athletics

Cardinals Bats Stay Hot, Down Northwestern in Series Opener

March 08, 2024 | Baseball

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Louisville defeated Northwestern 11-5 on Friday.

By: Stephen Williams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville baseball team kept up its hot hitting ways with an 11-5 victory over Northwestern on Friday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Louisville (9-4) has now won nine straight games, scoring at least nine runs in every contest.

Battling through rainy conditions, the Cardinals found themselves down 2-0 in the fourth inning.

Northwestern (5-6) plated a pair of runs in the second inning and kept the Cards off the board over the first three frames.

Gavin Kilen changed that with one swing in the fourth, hitting his second home run in as many games to tie the game at two apiece. Isaac Humphrey kept the inning going with a single and ultimately put the Cardinals in front scoring on a wild pitch.

Brandon Anderson extended Louisville's lead in the fifth, sending a two-run triple into the right field corner and then scored on Luke Napleton's sacrifice fly to make it 6-2 Cards after five.

The Wildcats clawed back in the sixth though, as a two-out bases clearing double made it a one-run game again.

However, Louisville responded right away with a leadoff home run off the bat of Ryan McCoy, his third of the season. Anderson tallied another RBI with a sacrifice fly later in the inning to make it a three-run game.

Humphrey hit the third homer of the game leading off the seventh inning and Napleton got in on the act with a solo shot in the eighth.

Sebastian Gongora (2-0) was the beneficiary of the offense, striking out seven in 5.1 innings of work. Ty Starke retired all six batters he faced with three strikeouts and Tucker Biven handled the final three outs of the win.

All nine starters recorded a hit in the win for Louisville. Humphrey and Lucas Moore each had three hits to lead the way.

Louisville and Northwestern continue the three-game series on Saturday with first pitch at 1 p.m. ET.

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