Louisville baseball sweeps weekend series with Princeton

The fourth-ranked Cardinal Nine bounced back from their series loss last weekend at Ole Miss with a 4-0 week including a three game sweep of the visiting Princeton Tigers this weekend.  The Cards outscored the Tigers 24-3 on the weekend and the weekend starters combined for 27 strikeouts.

Friday night Louisville took the opener 4-2, with ace Kyle Funkhouser matching his career high with 12 strikeouts.  It was the third time in his career that Funkhouser sat down 12 batters in strikeout fashion.  Lincoln Henzman provided two scoreless innings of relief, improving his 2016 resumé to 5.2 scoreless innings with six strikeouts.  Sophomore third baseman Blake Tiberi went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Brendan McKay added two RBI.

Saturday was a cold and rainy afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium, but the Cards ride the hot arm of McKay to a 9-1 triumph.  McKay finished with eight strikeouts, and moved his season stats to 3-0 with a .43 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 21 innings.  Corey Ray notched his fifth home-run of the year on an opposite field shot and stole three bases.  Tiberi went 2-for-4 adding two more RBI, and Nick Solak scored three runs.

With the sun coming out Sunday afternoon, the Cards put together their best outing of the weekend rolling Princeton 11-0.  Drew Harrington pitched six scoreless with seven strikeouts and improved to 2-1 on the season.  Shane Hummel, Chandler Dale and Zack Burdi provided three shutout innings of relief and combined for six strikeouts.  Catcher Will Smith had three hits and two RBI, shortstop Devin Hairston went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Tiberi continued his hot start to the season going 2-for-4 for the third straight day and adding his second homer of the season.

The 9-2 Cardinals continue their 10 game homestand welcoming Longwood to Jim Patterson Stadium Tuesday at 3:00 before opening ACC play with a three game home series against Notre Dame beginning Friday at 3:00.  Admission to all games this week is free.