SWEEP! Cards Take All 3 vs. NC State

Mark BlankenbakerMay 15, 2016

On a day in which the Louisville baseball team honored its senior class of Kyle Funkhouser, Anthony Kidston and Danny Rosenbaum during a pregame ceremony, the fifth-ranked Cardinals received contributions from each them on the field in Sunday afternoon’s 6-1 win over No. 10 NC State completing a series sweep of the ACC foe.

Funkhouser twirled seven strong innings to win his fourth straight start and Kidston had a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning to close the 18th straight home win for the Cardinals (42-10, 19-8 ACC), who improved to 32-1 at Patterson Stadium this season. Rosenbaum added two hits and scored once as the trio of seniors won their 190th game in four seasons. Louisville has won five straight games and 12 of its last 13 overall while garnering control of the ACC Atlantic Division with one weekend left to play.

A native of Oak Forest, Illinois, Funkhouser allowed one run on just two hits and finished with eight strikeouts in 7.0+ innings to improve to 7-3 on the season. The two-time All-American added to his school record career totals, which include 33 wins, 359 strikeouts, 363.2 innings pitched and 54 starts. In his last four starts, Funkhouser is 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA, 27 strikeouts and just eight walks in 26.0 innings pitched.

Rosenbaum finished the afternoon 2-for-4 overall and scored the first run of Louisville’s four-run second inning. Redshirt freshman Drew Ellis continued his hot streak at the plate connecting for a two-run homer, while junior outfielder Corey Ray was 2-for-3 with a double and scored once. Sophomore Brendan McKay added a pair of RBI and junior Will Smith scored twice as the Cardinals completed the weekend sweep of the Wolfpack (32-17, 13-12) without trailing in any of the three games.

Louisville wasted little time gaining control of Sunday’s game scoring a pair of runs in the first inning against NC State lefty starter Ryan Williamson. McKay started the scoring with a RBI groundout to send Ray home and sophomore Devin Hairston followed with a RBI double down the right field line to plate Smith.

An inning later, the Cardinals broke through for four runs on three hits in the second inning marking the second straight day they have plated four runs in an inning. After a leadoff bunt single Rosenbaum, Ellis crushed an offering from Williamson sending it to the top of the left field berm. Each of the three home runs for Ellis this season have come in the last five games across eight days.

Later in the inning, junior outfielder Logan Taylor singled, stole second and moved to third on back-to-back walks to Smith and junior Nick Solak before scoring on a wild pitch by Tommy DeJuneas. McKay drove in home the final run of the inning with a RBI sacrifice fly to right to plate Smith for the 6-0 lead.

The Wolfpack plated their only run of the game in the eighth inning on a RBI single by Evan Mendoza. NC State threatened for more loading the bases with one out before freshman lefty Adam Wolf worked out of the jam by getting an out at the plate on a fielder’s choice and a strikeout of Joe Dunand. Williamson was charged with the loss and dropped to 7-2 on the season after allowing two earned runs and four total runs on three hits in 1.0+ innings.

Fifth-ranked Louisville will close its 2016 regular season home schedule with a visit from Indiana on Tuesday at 6 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium and admission is free.