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For the second straight night, the Louisville baseball team utilized back-to-back home runs to propel itself to a road victory over Clemson.
Nick Solak and Corey Ray did the damage on Monday, belting consecutive bombs in the top of the 8th to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead the Cards would not relinquish. Ray's go-ahead home run was his team-best 11th of the season.
Louisville has 4 home runs in a game for the first time since 2010. Here's the most recent from @FutureIs_Bright: pic.twitter.com/FCauPidX1E
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) May 5, 2015
Earlier home runs from Brendan McKay and Blake Tiberi made this the first time the Cards have hit four runs in a single game since 2010.
The victory moved Louisville, which dropped the series opener against Clemson on Friday, to a perfect 8-0 in ACC series this season, and to a ridiculous 21-3 in conference play overall. The Cards' magic number for clinching the No. 1 overall seed in the league tournament is now 2.
This was the first of five huge games the Cardinals will play this week. They'll head to Lexington on Wednesday for a 6:30 rivalry game against Kentucky before hosting No. 8 Florida State for a three-game weekend set at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Seminoles haven't failed to win the Atlantic Division title in nine years, a streak Louisville can end in front of its home crowd.
Here's an updated look at the ACC standings after Monday night's win:
ATLANTIC
| SCHOOLS | CONF W-L-T | CONF PCT | W-L-T | PCT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville | 21-3-0 | .875 | 37-11-0 | .771 | |
| Florida State | 16-8-0 | .667 | 35-14-0 | .714 | |
| Notre Dame | 12-12-0 | .500 | 30-18-0 | .625 | |
| Clemson | 13-13-0 | .500 | 24-23-0 | .511 | |
| NC State | 11-12-0 | .478 | 26-18-0 | .591 | |
| Wake Forest | 11-13-0 | .458 | 26-21-0 | .553 | |
| Boston College | 9-17-0 | .346 | 24-24-0 | .500 |
COASTAL
| SCHOOLS | CONF W-L-T | CONF PCT | W-L-T | PCT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | 19-8-0 | .704 | 34-13-0 | .723 | |
| North Carolina | 13-10-0 | .565 | 29-16-0 | .644 | |
| Georgia Tech | 11-13-0 | .458 | 29-17-0 | .630 | |
| Virginia Tech | 12-14-0 | .462 | 25-24-0 | .510 | |
| Virginia | 10-14-0 | .417 | 27-18-0 | .600 | |
| Duke | 7-16-0 | .304 | 26-19-0 | .578 | |
| Pitt | 6-18-0 | .250 | 16-29-0 | .356 |
A couple of other notable streaks extended on Monday night: Louisville has now won 131 straight games when taking a lead into the 9th inning, and 26 straight games when scoring first.
A conference championship, some huge rivalry wins, national seed and a run at a national title are potentially all right around the corner. Not a bad time to be a Cardinal baseball fan.