Louisville Nine Sweeps Boston College; Purdue Next

Mark BlankenbakerMarch 16, 2015

The eighth-ranked Louisville baseball team completed a weekend sweep of visiting Boston College with a 5-2 victory on Sunday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Sophomore lefty Josh Rogers (New Albany, Ind.) allowed just two runs while scattering seven hits in 6.1 innings for the win to improve to 2-1 on the season as the Cardinals (14-6, 5-1 ACC) closed a 4-1 week. Sophomore righthander Zack Burdi (Downers Grove, Ill.) retired the final two batters of the game to close the win with his first career save.

At the plate, senior infielder Sutton Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.) was 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI, while senior outfielder Mike White (East Orange, N.J.) finished 2-for-3 with a double, a stolen base, one RBI and two runs scored as the Cardinals finished with 12 hits overall marking the fourth time in five games they have reached double figures. Junior first baseman Danny Rosenbaum (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) added a pair of singles and one RBI and senior third baseman Zach Lucas (Louisville, Ky.) chipped in with two hits and scored once.

The Cardinals started the scoring on Sunday with a pair of runs in the third inning against Boston College (5-12, 0-6 ACC) starter Justin Dunn. White delivered a RBI double to right field to plate freshman infielder Devin Hairston (Lexington, Ky.) for the first run of the afternoon. After moving to third on a single by Whiting, White scored on a RBI single from sophomore Nick Solak (Woodridge, Ill.) for the 2-0 advantage.

An inning later, Louisville doubled its cushion with a RBI single from Rosenbaum to score Lucas and a RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of Hairston to plate sophomore catcher Will Smith (Louisville, Ky.). The inning started with a single to center by Lucas, who later advanced to second on a single by Smith before scoring on the hit from Rosenbaum. Smith took third on the single by Rosenbaum before scoring on the Hairston flyball.

Boston College broke through for its only runs of the day in the seventh inning on RBI singles by designated hitter Logan Hoggarth and catcher Nick Sciortino. The Cardinals answered in the bottom of the seventh when White reached base with a two-out single, stole second and scored on a RBI single by Whiting for the 5-2 cushion.

Freshman righty Sean Leland (Orland Park, Ill.) recorded a pair of outs and sophomore lefty Robert Strader (Louisville, Ky.) added 1.1 innings of shutout relief before Burdi finished the day. Dunn took the loss for the Eagles and dropped to 2-2 on the season after allowing four runs on seven hits in four innings.

Up next, No. 8 Louisville will close its 15-game homestand with a midweek visit from Purdue on Tuesday at noon ET for Elementary School Day at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Louisville Postgame Notes

The Cardinals improved to 11-3 at home this season and are 259-85 all-time at Jim Patterson Stadium since its opening in 2005.
Louisville has won 111 straight games dating back to 2012 when entering the ninth inning with a lead.
The Cardinals played error-free baseball in all three games of the Boston College series. Prior to that, they had played error-free only twice in the first 17 games.
Louisville improved to 12-1 this season when out-hitting its opponent, including all three games with the Eagles.
The Cardinals scored first in each of the games with BC and improved to 8-0 this season when scoring first.
Through 20 games, the Louisville bullpen has a 2.05 ERA, 97 strikeouts and a 9-0 record in 79.0 innings pitched.
In five games this week, Zach Lucas hit .389 with five runs scored, while Sutton Whiting had a .381 average.
Through two weeks of ACC baseball, Whiting is hitting .565 in the six games with five runs scored.
Lucas leads the Cardinals with eight RBI in six ACC games and is hitting .304 overall in the league.
For the season, Whiting leads the Cardinals with a .411 average and a .543 on-base percentage, highlighted by a team-high 18 walks.
Devin Hairston continues to lead Louisville in RBI with 19 on the season while making 14 starts and playing in 18 games overall.