Baseball wins on senior day, sweeps no. 10 NC State

By Dalton Ray–

The fifth-ranked Louisville baseball team defeated 10th-ranked North Carolina State 6-1 on senior day, sweeping the weekend series. Over the series, the U of L pitchers allowed 17 singles, no singles, no doubles and no home runs while striking out 32.

The Cardinals now have won three of the last four of their series against ranked opponents. This sweep makes it back-to-back to sweeps of ranked opponents, last sweeping then sixteenth-ranked Clemson in April. U of L now sits at 42-10 and are first in the ACC Atlantic with a 18-9 conference record.

All-time wins leader Kyle Funkhouser pitched seven innings, allowing two hits while sitting down eight batters. The Cardinal’s all-time strikeout king earned his seventh win of the year, sitting at 7-3.

The Cards were led by Corey Ray, Brendan McKay, Drew Ellis and Danny Rosenbaum on the offensive end. Ellis’ two-run home run gave the Cardinals life in the second inning. Louisville scored four runs during the second inning. McKay joined Ellis with a pair of RBIs on the day.

Coach Dan McDonnell talked about what senior day means to him after the game.

“This day is really about our fans. We want them to come out and have a good time with our seniors,” he said. “It’s great to get a win today for the fans and the seniors. We want to play hard for the guys going out.”

For McDonnell, he recognizes how successful this season class has been.

“These seniors really have had an amazing time here at U of L. Two College World Series appearances, two conference championships, nearly 200 wins during their time,” he said. “On top of that, they all came out today and played well.”

The fifth-ranked Cardinals are back in action Tuesday against Indiana at 6 p.m.