Cards Blast Morehead State

W: Tate Kuehner (1-1), L: Will Lozinak (0-2)

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
MSU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	5	2
#2 UL	0	10	0	5	0	0	1	0	X	16	20	1

Capping off their 9 game home-stand, the #2 Louisville Cardinals (9-3) ended it in style with an 16-3 shellacking of the Morehead State Eagles (4-7) on Tuesday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The victory pushes Louisville's win streak to 8 in a row, and 20 in a row against the Eagles. It also breaks a tie with Notre Dame for the Cards' longest active win streak against a single opponent. Head coach Dan McDonnell is now 14-0 vs. Morehead State and 22-1 against head coach Mik Aoki who was previously the Notre Dame skipper.

Louisville might have posted an astounding 16 runs, but the majority of their offense came in the second and fourth innings. In the bottom of the second, the Cards sent 14 batters to plate and came away with 10 runs on 9 hits including back-to-back home runs from Levi Usher (1-4, RBI, HR) and Henry Davis (2-3, 2 RBI, HR). It was the first time that the Cards have put up 10 or more in an inning since they put up 10 in the seventh against Alabama A&M on 4/26/19.

The fourth inning saw half as many runs as the second, thanks to a two-run home run from Ben Metzinger (1-4, 2 RBI, HR) and a 3 RBI double from Ben Bianco (2-3, 4 RBI, BB). The seventh featured the Cards' fourth home run of the day thanks to a solo shot from Cameron Masterman, as well as Lucas Dunn's first base hit of the season.

Junior First Baseman Ben Bianco

When everything was said and done, 13 of the 15 batters that stepped up to the plate collected base hits with only Chris Seng & Trey Leonard being excluded. Also having a great day offensively was Zach Britton (3-3, RBI, 2B, 2 BB, HBP) as he reached base in all 6 of his plate appearances.

From the mound, the Cards had a staff day against the Eagles and had great success for most of the game. Collectively they struck out 12 batters and allowed just 5 hits & 5 walks, with 5 of the 6 pitchers not allowing a single run. Freshman LHP Tate Kuehner saw his first start of the season, and went 3.0 innings deep while striking out a pair.

Out of the pen, Michael Prosecky, Glenn Albanese, Carter Lohman & Adam Elliott all has scoreless appearances. While Jared Poland allowed a two out, three run bomb in the eighth, it was the first hits and runs allowed by the bullpen since the game against Xavier on Feb. 25.

Next up for the Cards, they'll hit the road and for a three game weekend series against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem. Game 1 is slated for Friday, March 6th at 6:00pm EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

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