Brendan McKay homered and drove in a career-best five RBI as the No. 2 Louisville baseball team scored eight runs in the first three innings of Tuesday night’s 13-2 win over Purdue at Jim Patterson Stadium.
McKay connected for his sixth home run of the season, doubled and walked twice in his four plate appearances while all five of his RBI came in the first three innings for the Cardinals (28-4), who won their sixth straight against the Boilermakers (17-15). With Tuesday’s performance, McKay raised is batting average to .400 overall and increased his on-base percentage to .523 to go along with 27 RBI and 26 walks.
Three more Louisville players finished with two hits on Tuesday, led by Logan Taylor, who had a pair of doubles, drove in one run and scored twice. Devin Hairston was 2-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored, while Ryan Summers added a pair of hits, one stolen base and scored once. Devin Mann added a double and two RBI and Justin Lavey connected for his first career home run with a two-run shot in the eighth inning.
Starting his third consecutive midweek game, righthander Shane Hummel twirled four shutout innings on a staff day for the Cardinals scattering four hits and equaling a career high with four strikeouts to earn the win and move to 4-0 on the season. The senior improved to 6-1 in his two seasons with the Cardinals and has a 3-0 record with a 0.96 ERA in his three midweek starts this season.
The Cardinals started fast Tuesday scoring four runs in the first inning, highlighted by a three-run homer from McKay. Colby Fitch earned a one-out walk and Hairston reached on a fielding error by Purdue third baseman Mike Madej before McKay powered a 2-1 offering from Jack Dellinger over the wall in right center for a 3-0 lead. Drew Ellis followed with a single, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball prior to being driven home on a RBI groundball off the bat of Josh Stowers.
Louisville extended the lead with a run in the second inning on a RBI single to right by Hairston to plate Taylor. An inning later, the Cardinals pushed the margin to 8-0 with a trio of runs in the third on a RBI double from Taylor to score Summers and a two-run double by McKay to plate Taylor and Hairston.
The Boilermakers broke through for their first run of the game in the fifth inning on a RBI double by Nick Dalesandro to score Evan Warden. The Cardinals answered with a three-spot in the sixth inning as Mann connected for a two-run double to score McKay and Stowers and Tyler Fitzgerald added a RBI single for the 11-1 lead.
Louisville capped its scoring with a pair of runs in the eighth inning on the home run by Lavey. Following a leadoff single from Michael Bollmer, Lavey turned on a 2-2 pitch from righty Adam Dressler sending it over the left field wall for the 13-1 margin. Purdue scored an unearned run in the ninth inning for the final margin.
Up next, No. 2 Louisville travels to Atlanta for a three-game set at Georgia Tech, which begins Thursday at 6 p.m., ET. The Cardinals and Yellow Jackets will continue the series on Friday at 6 p.m., while the weekend finale is set for Saturday at 1 p.m.
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Garett Wall
Assistant Sports Information Director
Baseball | Men’s Soccer | Rowing
University of Louisville Athletics
